1947 Partition

The many meanings of Partition 1947 and beyond

My memory is again in the way of your history.      Agha Shahid Ali

75 Years of Partition / Dhaka before and after Partition

Dhaka has gone through many ups and downs over the past few centuries.

Partition 1947: Displaced Music: Partition through the senses

Songs give a voice to the timelessness of the body’s performative archive.

BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: A relative’s perspective on an enigmatic hero

Nehru was revolted by Nazism and the persecution of Europe’s Jews. Bose…felt that the Indian struggle for freedom should override all other considerations.

Partition 1947: The art of remembering

In our school textbooks, Partition was a minor detail in the climax of the rousing story of the Indian National Movement.

Partition 1947: The Many Migrations of Siraj-ul Huq

One man’s journey through the events of 1947 and 1971, and his experience of being a refugee and then a stateless person.

Partition 1947: Lessons we need to un/learn

Narratives from the peripheries are needed to balance out the indocentrism of Partition Studies

Partition 1947: The perennial shadow of communalism

Communal violence is not a recent phenomenon in this part of the world.

Partition 1947 / ‘Tailor-Made’ Partition: Saga of an Orchestrated Disaster

In 1947, “United India” got vivisected, in which Bengal experienced the divide along with Punjab.

August 19, 2022
August 19, 2022

How Partition impacted the Dhaka book trade

With the expansion of the publishing business, bookshops also sprang up in various parts of Old Dhaka, particularly in Chawkbazar, Islampur, Mughaltuli and Patuatuli. It is estimated that the number of bookshops in Dhaka till 1900 were no less than 40. 

August 18, 2022
August 18, 2022

Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand': A woman and her many borders

There is a plot embedded here, but this novel is so much more: a long, winding journey, centred on a family, with acute eyes on love and distances within a family, but also through language, Partition and imposed borders, and so much more.

August 15, 2022
August 15, 2022

Post-Partition period in books: Prabhas Chandra, Tajuddin, and Ahmed Kamal offer testimonies

On the 75th anniversary of the 1947 Partition, we look back at the testimonies of the veteran politician, Prabhas Chandra Lahiri; the young political activist, Tajuddin Ahmed; and Professor Ahmed Kamal's book comprising research on and stories of the time.

August 15, 2022
August 15, 2022

The Great Divide that brought them together

While the Partition of 1947 is a chapter that historians are constantly bringing up, one question rarely explored is what does the Partition mean for the Millennials and Gen Zs? How much do our younger generations know of the significance of the Great Divide?

August 14, 2022
August 14, 2022

How Salman Rushdie’s ‘Midnight’s Children’ changed my life

Metaphors have never made more sense to me than when these two swapped but intertwined lives personified India and Pakistan, the two newborn countries, whose births were marked by blood, pain and trauma.

August 12, 2022
August 12, 2022

ULAB Lit Salon to host discussion on Partition and its aftermath on August 13

The event will discuss the Bengal Partition of 1905, a second Partition of Bengal—and the Indian subcontinent in 1947—and the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. The Salon will showcase aspects of these partitions, living histories that bind India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

August 11, 2022
August 11, 2022

To trace back a tapestry of trauma: Partition inherited

Perhaps the book's best aspect is how it allows space for the stories of those who perpetrated violence during Partition.

June 4, 2022
June 4, 2022

Was Jinnah the real villain in the story of partition?

On June 3, 1947, Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, announced his plan for the partition of the subcontinent—in particular that of Punjab and Bengal.

May 30, 2022
May 30, 2022

“So what if our sister is a Muslim? We’re the same blood!”

After 75 years, a Pakistani woman – separated from her family after the 1947 Partition – reunited with her Indian brothers for the first time last month.

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