Fifteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

The year is being celebrated as the 75th year of India’s independence. India’s triumphant moment of decolonization however remains forever marred by the tragedy of Partition. More than 14 million people were displaced from lands they had inhabited for millennia and over 2 million lives were estimated to have perished in the process of the migration journey and the ensuing ethnic violence. While macro-political studies of Partition have been undertaken, micro-level effects of partition on refugees have remained largely unnoticed. In this study, oral history interviews collected through online questionnaire and focused interview of 75 witnesses of 15th August 1947 are examined and an account of their migration is interpreted by descriptive analysis methods. This paper reflects an understanding of the phenomenon of migration through a South Asian perspective and documents sociological, cultural, economic, and personal dimensions of one of the largest forced migration events in the history of humankind. While the hastily executed cartographic fragmentation of India left a deep imprint of uncertainty about the migrant’s statehood, despite tremendous hardship, the testimonies of the partition refugees reaffirm a shared conviction in a democratic society endowed with civil liberties.