I would first like to thank the Golz family for their generous contribution to the Bowdoin College History Department in the form of the Golz Fellowship, which supports research and internship opportunities for History major and minors during the summer months. I could not be more grateful for this chance to build upon my research experience, as well as to explore an area of study that I find so compelling. This opportunity has allowed me to develop invaluable skills that I know will be of immeasurable help in whatever career path I may take. But even beyond this, this research opportunity has opened my eyes to the importance of the “human” component of history, that which has so often taken a backseat to the political narrative, and yet contributes so greatly to the world that we live in today.
To my Fellowship adviser, Professor Nishtha Singh, a million thanks to you for so graciously accepting the undoubtedly challenging task of advising me in the different stages of this research. Your sincere passion for this history is contagious. I can think of no better person to lead me in this process. From the research proposal to the sometimes tedious gathering of source material, and now the nail-biting creation of this website – you have been the greatest of guides and a real comfort. I look forward to seeing where your promising career takes you.
I would also like to thank my two major advisers, Professor Meghan Roberts (History) and Professor Laura Henry (Government- Comparative Politics). I am thankful to Professor Roberts not only for her advice on research proposals and the creation of a sound budget, but also for the lessons I’ve learned in the courses she taught. There were many times during my summer research in which I was reminded that what people think happened is often just as important as what did happen. When working with an intangible source such as people’s memories (which formed the bulk of my primary source material), this is especially important to keep in mind. As I hope to ultimately broaden the geographical and temporal scope of this research- comparing the Indian-Pakistan partition to other instances of territorial divide and communal conflict- a background in comparative politics is imperative. For this I can thank Professor Henry, who is also an inspiration to me as she was herself a double major in History and Political Science. I consider both my advisers to be great role models.
I would not have been able to create this website without the help of Mr. David Israel in the ‘Communications’ (IT) department at Bowdoin College. I am grateful for his having so readily taught me the basic ins-and-outs of website creation on WordPress (for which he has been a great help to many other Bowdoin students and faculty members), thus saving me what would have doubtlessly been many tearful hours spent poring over “How To” manuals that are not, in any case, tailored to my specific project. I thank Mr. Israel for helping me to achieve what I had wished in this project: using innovative technologies in a field (in this case, History) that I believe would greatly benefit from such changes.
I also want to thank Urvashi Butalia, Ritu Menon, Kamla Bhasin, and Veena Das, all of whom should be considered pioneers in South Asian Women’s History. Their works formed the basis of my understanding of Partition, and their bravery in tackling one of the darkest periods in this region’s history should be an inspiration to all aspiring feminist scholars and historians of communal violence. Their written words were my guide in this research, and I am indebted to them all. I can only hope that I may one day achieve even a fraction of that which they have accomplished.
Lastly, but most importantly, I would like to take a moment to recognize and honor those women who have suffered in the name of the “greater good”; not just the countless Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi women on whom this research concentrates, but every woman, in all ages and lands, whose natural, human rights were violated, and whose hopes, dreams, and most basic comforts were subordinated to the games of men. It is to them that I dedicate my research.
Sources:
Ritu Menon and Kamla Bhasin, Borders and Boundaries: Women in India’s Partition (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1998).
Ritu Menon, No Woman’s Land: Women From India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh Write on the Partition of India (New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2004).
Urvashi Butalia, The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India (New Delhi: Viking, 1998).
Suvir Kaul, The Partitions of Memory: The Afterlife of the Partition of India (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002).
Ghislaine Glasson Deschaumes and Rada Ivekovic, Divided Country, Separated Cities: The Modern Legacy of Partition (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003).
Michael Ignatieff, Blood and Belonging: Journeys Into the New Nationalism (New York: Farrar, Staus and Giroux, 1995).
Urvashi Butalia, Katha: Short Stories by Indian Women (London: Telegram, 2007).
Veena Das, Life and Words: Violence and the Descent Into the Ordinary (Berkeley: University of California, 2007).
Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon, In Other Words: New Writing by Indian Women (Boulder: Westview Press, 1994).
Alok Bhalla, Partition Dialogues: Memories of a Lost Home New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006).
G.D. Khosla, Stern Reckoning: A survey of the Events Leading Up to and Following the Partition of India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989).
Jyotirmoyee Devi, The River Churning/Epar Ganga Opar Ganga (New Delhi: Kali For Women, 1995).
http://1947partitionarchive.org/
Ritu Menon and Kamla Bhasin. “Recovery, Rupture, Resistance: Indian State and Abduction of Women during Partition.” Economic and Political Weekly, 28 (1993), 1-11. Accessed July 2, 2014.
Urvashi Butalia. “Community, State and Gender: On Women’s Agency during Partition.” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 17 (Apr. 24, 1993), pp. WS12-WS21+WS24. Accessed June 14, 2014.
Kamla Patel. Torn From the Roots. (New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 1977).
Anis Kidwai. In Freedom’s Shade. (India: Penguin Books India, 2011).