Burning Knowledge, Shattering Lives: Ranganathan’s Five Laws in the Shadows of Genocide

This zine was made by Abandoned Affair a zinemaker from Toronto, Canada

We gave them some space to tell us about themselves, their process, and what inspires them. This is what they said:

I’m a University of Toronto graduate student studying Archives & Records Management, and the making of my zine is deeply connected to my academic and activist commitments. My work often engages with cultural memory, decolonial practices, and the politics of knowledge destruction and survival.

This zine began as a class assignment, but it quickly became something deeper and more personal. What started as an academic exercise evolved into a means of processing grief, frustration, and silence surrounding Palestine in my coursework. I built it through research, writing, and design, shaping it into an object that could circulate both as an educational tool and as an act of resistance. It was originally intended to exist digitally, but I decided to have it printed to expand its reach. Risograph printing is what brought the zine to life, balancing accessibility with the tactile presence that makes zines powerful.

My zine emerged from a commitment to documenting stories and struggles that archival institutions often choose to erase. Whether I’m writing about Palestine or memory work more broadly, I’m always trying to connect scholarship with my lived experiences of grief and resistance in ways that are accessible outside the academy.

IG: @abandonedaffair
Website: https://abandonedaffair.com