78 – IDENTITY, MEMORY AND BELONGING IN THE PARTITION OF INDIA

October 3, 2025
6:15 pm
H13
This panel explores the profound and multifaceted impacts of the Partition of India on identity, memory, and belonging. It studies the symbolism of home in South Asian Partition fiction, memoirs, and oral histories, highlighting the intense attachment to ancestral homes that often surpasses familial bonds and delves into literary narratives of displacement, emphasizing the deep yearning for lost homes and the critical function these memories serve beyond mere nostalgia. The panel invites papers that study the partition in any region of South Asia, even those that were not border states. We are also interested in how contemporary museums in India represent political and sectarian conflicts such as the1947 Partition, using narrative and allegory to mediate public memory and critique historical injustices. Papers that broaden the scope of inquiry to include various forms of traumatic memory related to Partition and other significant historical events, emphasizing the role of memory-work and memorialization in understanding historical traumas are also welcome. Together, these presentations will explore how Partition has shaped and continues to influence collective memory and identity in South Asia.

Convenor

Mir Ahammad Ali

Presentations

In the Shadow of Space and Time: The trajectory of Dalit refugees
Pratiksha Minee - ISEK - Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Enduring Places: Lost Homes in Partition Literary Narratives
Kumar Priya - University of Delhi, Delhi, New Delhi, India
Material Objects as Portable Homelands: Locating an ‘Affective Archive’ in Select Bengali Partition Stories
ALI DR. MIR AHAMMAD - Bhatter College, Dantan, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, India
ROOTS AND RUPTURES: HOME, FAMILY, AND BELONGING IN SOUTH ASIAN PARTITION FICTION
Raja Ira - Department of English, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
A Memoir, A Hometown, and a Khatri Way of Life
Malhotra Anshu - University of California, Santa Barbara, University