"Zamindar crosses political and conceptual boundaries to bring together oral histories of north Indian Muslim families divided between the two cities of Delhi and Karachi with extensive archival research in previously unexamined Urdu newspapers and government records of India and Pakistan. She juxtaposes the experiences of ordinary people against the bureaucratic interventions of both postcolonial states to manage and control refugees and administer their property. As a result, she reveals the surprising history of the making of the western Indo-Pak border, one of the most highly surveillanced in the world, which was instituted in response to this refugee crisis in order to construct national difference where it was the most blurred."--BOOK JACKET.

The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia draws upon new theoretical insights and fresh bodies of data to historically reappraise partition in the light of its long aftermath.

A wide-ranging survey of the Indian sub-continent, Modern South Asia gives an enthralling account of South Asian history. After sketching the pre-modern history of the subcontinent, the book concentrates on the last three centuries from c.1700 to the present. Jointly written by two leading Indian and Pakistani historians, Modern South Asia offers a rare depth of understanding of the social, economic and political realities of this region. This comprehensive study includes detailed discussions of: the structure and ideology of the British raj; the meaning of subaltern resistance; the refashioning of social relations along lines of caste class, community and gender; and the state and economy, society and politics of post-colonial South Asia The new edition includes a rewritten, accessible introduction and a chapter by chapter revision to take into account recent research. The second edition will also bring the book completely up to date with a chapter on the period from 1991 to 2002 and adiscussion of the last millennium in sub-continental history.

Asian history.

Between 1939 and 1945 India underwent extraordinary and irreversible change. Hundreds of thousands of Indians suddenly found themselves in uniform, fighting in the Middle East, North and East Africa, Europe and-something simply never imagined-against a Japanese army poised to invade eastern India. With the threat of the Axis powers looming, the entire country was pulled into the vortex of wartime mobilization. By the war's end, the Indian Army had become the largest volunteer force in the conflict, consisting of 2.5 million men, while many millions more had offered their industrial, agricultural, and military labor. It was clear that India would never be same-the only question was: would the war effort push the country toward or away from independence? In India's War, historian Srinath Raghavan paints a compelling picture of battles abroad and of life on the home front, arguing that the war is crucial to explaining how and why colonial rule ended in South Asia. World War II forever altered the country's social landscape, overturning many Indians' settled assumptions and opening up new opportunities for the nation's most disadvantaged people. When the dust of war settled, India had emerged as a major Asian power with her feet set firmly on the path toward Independence. From Gandhi's early urging in support of Britain's war efforts, to the crucial Burma Campaign, where Indian forces broke the siege of Imphal and stemmed the western advance of Imperial Japan, Raghavan brings this underexplored theater of WWII to vivid life. The first major account of India during World War II, India's War chronicles how the war forever transformed India, its economy, its politics, and its people, laying the groundwork for the emergence of modern South Asia and the rise of India as a major power.

In This Remarkable Study Based On More Than Two Years Of Ethnographic And Archival Research, Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar Argues That The Combined Interventions Of The Two Postcolonial States Were Enormously Important In Shaping These Massive Displacements. She Examines The Long, Contentious, And Ambivalent Process Of Drawing Political Boundaries And Making Distinct Nation-States In The Midst Of This Historic Chaos. Zamindar Crosses Political And Conceptual Boundaries To Bring Together Oral Histories With North Indian Muslim Families Divided Between The Two Cities Of Delhi And Karachi With Extensive Archival Research In Previously Unexamined Urdu Newspapers And Government Records Of India And Pakistan. She Juxtaposes The Experiences Of Ordinary People Against The Bureaucratic Interventions Of Both Postcolonial States To Manage And Control Refugees And Administer Refugee Property. As A Result, She Reveals The Surprising History Of The Making Of The Western Indo-Pak Border, One Of The Most Highly Surveillanced In The World, Which Came To Be Instituted In Response To This Refugee Crisis, In Order To Construct National Difference Where It Was The Most Blurred. In Particular, Zamindar Examines The Muslim Question At The Heart Of Partition. From The Margins And Silences Of National Histories, She Draws Out The Resistance, Bewilderment, And Marginalization Of North Indian Muslims As They Came To Be Pushed Out And Divided By Both Emergent Nation-States. It Is Here That Zamindar Asks Us To Stretch Our Understanding Of Partition Violence To Include This Long, And In Some Sense Ongoing, Bureaucratic Violence Of Postcolonial Nationhood, And To Place Partition At The Heart Of A Twentieth Century Of Border-Making And Nation-State Formation. A Product Of Outstanding Historical-Ethnographic Research, Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar'S Book Tells Like No One Has Done Before The Maddeningly Tangled Story Of How, In The Years After The Partition Of 1947, India And Pakistan Actually Came To Separate Their Territories, Properties, And Peoples Into Two Sovereign States. Zamindar'S Ability To Weave Into A Single Narrative The National And The Local, The Administrative And The Personal, The Everyday And The Epochal, Is Truly Remarkable. This Is A Path Breaking Contribution To Modern South Asian Studies. Partha Chatterjee, Author Of The Politics Of The Governed: Reflections On Popular Politics In Most Of The World A Deeply Moving Account Of The Contingent Category Of The No-Questions-Asked Natural Citizen Within The Indian And Pakistani Nation-States, At Birth And In Their Long, Postnatal Condition. The Hurriedly Fixed National Boundaries Here Both Necessitate And Entice, Contain And Penalize Crossings. Zamindar Richly Documents How For Some Minority Groups Travel, Kinship Ties, And A National Longing Have To Be Continually Bared To Lay Claim To Citizenship Within A Multireligious Dispensation. An Unsettling Work That Breaks Through The Chalk Circles Circumscribing The Retellings Of Our Separate And National Pasts. Shahid Amin, Author Of Writing Alternative Histories: A View From India A Remarkable Exercise Of Ethno-History From Below. In Addition To Official Sources, Zamindar Has Collected Testimonies In Archives And Interviewed Survivors Of Partition To Offer An Original And Significant Chronicle Of The Nation-Making Process In Both India And Pakistan. Christophe Jaffrelot, Author Of The Hindu Nationalist Movement And Indian Politics, 1925 To The 1990S This Is A Significant And Path-Breaking Book And Is Likely To Become The Standard Study Of The Subject. It Will Be Cited Authoritatively Or Be Argued With For Some Time To Come. Aamir Mufti, Author Of Enlightenment In The Colony: The Jewish Question And The Crisis Of Postcolonial Culture

This book examines the afterlife of Partition as imprinted on the memories and postmemories of Hindu and Sikh survivors from West Punjab to foreground the intersection between history, memory and narrative. It shows how survivors script their life stories to reinscribe tragic tales of violence and abjection into triumphalist sagas of fortitude, resilience, industry, enterprise and success. At the same time, it reveals the silences, stutters and stammers that interrupt survivors’ narrations to bring attention to the untold stories repressed in their consensual narratives. By drawing upon current research in history, memory, narrative, violence, trauma, affect, home, nation, borders, refugees and citizenship, the book analyzes the traumatizing effects of both the tangible and intangible violence of Partition by tracing the survivors’ journey from refugees to citizens as they struggle to make new homes and lives in an unhomely land. Moreover, arguing that the event of Partition radically transformed the notions of home, belonging, self and community, it shows that individuals affected by Partition produce a new ethics and aesthetic of displacement and embody new ways of being in the world. An important contribution to the field of Partition studies, this book will be of interest to researchers on South Asian history, memory, partition and postcolonial studies.