Negotiating Languages

C. M. Naim, author of Urdu Texts and Contexts:
A pioneering study of Hindi/Urdu lexicography, Hakala's book is an equally significant contribution to the sociology of Urdu's premodern literature. His meticulous analyses of four lexicons, dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, bring revealing insights to the issues that much concerned not only the lexicographers but also all the creative writers of those times, as well as issues of linguistic authority and authenticity and gender and class identities.

Frances Pritchett, author of Nets of Awareness: Urdu Poetry and Its Critics:
Who knew that lexicographical analysis could be so historically revelatory, culturally astute, and rich in anecdotes? Hakala's book is not only a source to be mined for information but also a joy to read. Everyone with an interest in South Asian language history will find it both a treasure and a pleasure.

Christi Merrill, author of Riddles of Belonging: India in Translation and Other Tales of Possession:
South Asianists have needed a pioneering book that takes seriously the ideological underpinnings of dictionary production and meaning-making across a range of linguistic, cultural, and class boundaries and shows how dynamic such exchanges often are. Negotiating Languages is a major contribution to the study of South Asia.

Syed Akbar Hyder, author of Reliving Karbala: Martyrdom in South Asian Memory:
A monumental work. Its eloquence is sublime, the stories are tantalizing, and the illustrations are gripping.