2027 would mark 80 years of the Partition of the Indian subcontinent of 1947. For South Asia, independence from over two centuries of British rule in 1947 was accompanied by a violent and bloody partition of British India into India and Pakistan separated by new international borders in 1947, which eventually led to the formation of another nation Bangladesh in 1971. This was a pivotal and foundational moment of postcolonial nation-making in South Asia, ushering in paradigmatic shifts in the configurations and ramifications of nation, place, identity, community, state, citizenship, borders, belonging and home for the subcontinent. For the millions of people caught in that historical moment as well as bearing its long-lasting legacies, the Partition of 1947 marked a particular epochal moment, (re)organising the foundations of national and cultural identity construction and political and community formation.
While, the Partition of 1947 has by now led to a wide range of scholarship on a diverse range of issues, on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Partition, this panel aims to look at new and hitherto under explored dimensions in Partition studies which would contribute towards new scholarship in the field. Topics may include but are not limited to:
The Partition and material memory
• Narratives of the non-human in the Partition
• The Partition and Indian Ocean Studies
• The Partition, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the Lakshwadeep
Islands
• The environmental ramifications of the Partition (land, rivers,
ecologies, memory)
• Children’s experiences of the Partition
• Caste in the Partition
• Gendered experiences of the Partition not limited to women’s experiences
• The Partition, health and disease
• Sindhi narratives of the Partition
• Partition narratives/histories from north-east India
• Representation of the Partition in newer cultural forms like graphic
narrative, web series
• The Partition and foodscapes
• The Partition and cultures of performance
• Partition museums