Bearing Witness: Partition, Independence, End of the Raj

by Sukeshi Kamra

Overview

August 14/15, 1947, reverberates with meaning for Indian and Pakistani people. The date does more than mark the "independence" of India. This momentous time marks the birth of two nation states, India and Pakistan, and is fixed in the memory of many as Partition and end of the Raj.

Bearing Witness Partition, Independence, End of the Raj attempts to nuance this historical moment by considering contemporary and post-event responses to Partition, which Indians and Pakistanis have inherited as one of uncontested significance. From testimonials and speeches by Jinnah and Nehru to fictional and non-fictional accounts by Indians and the British, and political cartoons that appeared in English newspapers at the time, Kamra offers an inductive study of primary texts that have been ignored until now. The book studies the three groups most affected by the events of 1947: the British, for whom this was the beginning of exile; the Indian elite, for whom the moment was a rite of passage; and the survivors of Partition, for whom the event is inextricably linked with trauma and loss of home, family, and community.

Author Sukeshi Kamra asks, "Why do we not consider these valid and contesting readings in the teaching and learning of our history? Not doing so means that testimonials to Partition, such as narratives of trauma, autobiographies as 'personal' statements on a 'public' moment, and political cartoons as a minute-by-minute construction of history have yet to be considered."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781552380413
Publisher:	University of Calgary Press
Publication date:	02/28/2002
Pages:	430
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Sukeshi Kamra is associate professor in the department of English at Carleton University.She has also published articles on Salman Rushdie and Rohinton Mistry.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	ix
	Acknowledgements	xiii
	Chronology	xiv
	Introduction	1
1	The Word on the Streets: Editorials and Political Cartoons in English-Language Dailies (1947)	37
2	'Dare to Know': Aug. 15, 1947, the Partition	111
3	Narratives of Pain: Fiction and Autobiography as 'Psychotestimonies' to the Partition	165
4	The Children of India Remember: Reflections, Chronicles, Diaries and Autobiographies	201
5	The Rhetoric of Anxiety: The End of the Raj in the Writings of the British and the British Press	237
	Conclusion	303
Appendix A	Historical Background to the Partition in the Punjab	307
Appendix B	History of the Indian Press under Colonial Rule	319
Appendix C	Biographies	329
	Notes	337
	Bibliography	385
	Index	401

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“a new and important discussion about a stupendously significant moment in the history of modern India [and] a notable contribution to the field of modern Indian history as well as postcolonial literary criticism.” -- Teresa Hubel, Huron College, University of Western Ontario