Paper short abstract:

This paper uses Muslim women’s autobiographical writings to analyse how partition memories are constructed in relation to gender, class and community at different historical moments and locations.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, academic studies on the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 have shifted their emphasis from the grand narratives of high politics to the neglected experiences of individuals. To recover these personalised and often gendered pasts, oral testimonies have been employed alongside fiction, memoirs, diaries and newspaper accounts with an aim to understanding, not just the event of partition, but also how it has been remembered and represented. In this process, the voices of Muslim women have continued to be underrepresented, often considered inaccessible to the Indian researchers who have pioneered the field on the basis that relevant historical subjects and sources are located primarily on the 'other side' of the border. As a necessary corrective, this paper will focus on the theme of partition in Muslim women's autobiographical writing. Specifically, it will use their memoirs, travelogues and short journal articles - both published and unpublished, and many of which have not previously been employed to this end, if at all - to analyse how partition memories are constructed in relation to gender, class and community at different historical moments and locations. Sensitivity will also be shown to the selective deployment of silences as a means of dealing with trauma and complicity. Other themes to be considered include assertions of victimhood and agency, the role of rumour in remembrance, and the creation of binaries between self and other. To uncover regional specificities, authors from Punjab and Bengal will be considered alongside those from other Muslim centres in South Asia.