Edges and nodes of print geographies: A spatial-network view of Punjabi publishing infrastructure

Abstract

Vernacular print cultures are often analysed as locally bounded literary or linguistic phenomena, yet how these print spheres were structurally formed, spatially organised, and infrastructurally sustained has largely remained unexamined. This article demonstrates that Punjab's publishing world between 1900 and 1969 was a distributed relational infrastructure, organised through a network of spatially distinct places, genres, and institutions whose collective density sustained the region's print culture and enabled its reconstitution in the aftermath of the partition of 1947. Drawing on a compiled catalogue of 4088 titles published in the Punjab region, the study reconstructs relations among publishers, cities and genres to analyse how the publishing infrastructure was distributed across the region using network and diversity analysis. The study draws on Henri Lefebvre's concept of the production of space to treat publishing locations as historically constituted places shaped by institutional density, linguistic composition, and material infrastructure. The analysis demonstrates that Punjab's print world was resilient and capable of reorganisation through a distributed relational infrastructure alongside newly imposed political borders during partition. The findings advance a framework for a relational approach to vernacular print and demonstrate the methodological potential of digital humanities tools for recovering cultural systems. © 2026 Elsevier Ltd