By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 17: The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Shillong, recently held an experiential exhibition titled “The People’s Archive of Media Memory”. It invited visitors to journey into the past of communication technologies.
The event, conceived and curated by the students of the MA English and the first semester of Journalism and Mass Communication, turned the university space into a living museum of media history, from film cameras and tape recorders to vintage radio sets.
It was more than a display of old devices; it jogged memories and showcased heritage and human connection in the digital age. Students collected, documented, and interpreted obsolete technologies, not merely as objects, but as vessels of storytelling and collective remembrance.
“This project reminds us that media is more than technology — it is about stories, relationships, and shared imagination. Each device we restored and displayed carried traces of how people once communicated, created, and connected,” a coordinator of the event said.
Participants were invited to consider preservation as an ethical and emotional act. By co-creating and critically reflecting, students engaged with the changing meanings of memory in a world powered by rapid digital change.
At its heart, The People’s Archive of Media Memory was a practice of remembrance, an attempt to breathe life into the forgotten voices of old media. Visitors to the exhibition were reminded at every turn that even though devices may fade, the creativity and emotions they once enabled continue to shape how stories are told today.
During the concluding session, there was a self-reflective session with Ana Sánchez-Muñoz from California State University, Barath Nataraj from North Eastern Hill University, and Alankar Kaushik, course instructor and faculty of EFLU’s regional campus in Shillong, along with the students and participants of the exhibition.
The self-reflective process brought out the need to humanise media studies, while Dr Kaushik shared a long-term vision related to this project.
