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 of 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. Others highlight the cultural limitations connected to izzat and sharam, honour and shame, that have made it ‘taboo’ for Muslim women to divulge Partition stories that may include rape, abduction and forced conversion. As a necessary corrective, this chapter will focus on the theme of Partition in Muslim women’s autobiographical writing. These sources enable exploration of how Partition memories are constructed in relation to gender, class and community at different historical moments and locations. Chosen for close analysis is Jiban Khatar Pataguli (‘Pages From My Life’, 1991) by Bangladeshi educationalist and author, Jobeda Khanam (1920–1990). Of particular interest is her autobiography’s cathartic function for narrating trauma, but also the selective deployment of silences as a means of dealing with pain and complicity. Other major themes include the creation of binaries between self and other, assertions of victimhood and agency, and the role of rumour in remembrance.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)