Bearing Witness
SUKESHI KAMRA
A study of 3 groups most affected by Partition: the educated Indians—their rite of passage; the survivors of Partition—traumatic and full of loss; and the British—heralding exile.
Hardback | 140 x 216mm (5.5 x 8.5") | 432 pp
ISBN 817436286X
Rs.495.00
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14-15 August 1947 means more than the ‘independence’ of India. It marks the birth of the two nation states, India and Pakistan, and is fixed in the memory of many as Partition and the end of the Raj.
Bearing Witness nuances this historical moment by considering contemporary and post-event responses to Partition, inherited by Indians and Pakistanis 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 from English newspapers at the time, Kamra offers an inductive study of primary texts ignored until now. The book studies the three groups most affected by the events of 1947: the educated Indians, for whom the moment was a rite of passage; the survivors of Partition, for whom the event is inextricably linked with trauma and loss of home, family, and community; and the British, for whom this heralded exile.
About the author
Sukeshi Kamra is an assistant professor of English at Carleton University in Canada. Bearing Witness was written while she was at Okanagan University College, in Canada. She has published articles on Partition literature and history, Salman Rushdie and Rohinton Mistry. She is currently working on literature and popular culture of the freedom movement, a project that is being funded largely by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and in part by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute and Carleton University.
Bearing Witness was named for the 2002 Kiriyama Prize, Notable Book and was on the shortlist of the 2003 Alberta Book Awards, Scholarly Book.
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