Abstract
The case study for my paper is the exodus from Burma during the Japanese bombings of 1941-42. Based on this case study I seek to understand the issue of memory politics and various interpretation of trauma and trans-culturality of coping, associated with traumatic memories of forced migration. Such an understanding will be brought about by the study of various migrant narratives including that of my family where I investigate how such interpretation affected narration which exist in the form of life story narratives. The methodology adapted will be both empirical and interpretative and the study of British-Indian government census documents (1940-45), Indo-Burmese Immigration Laws 1941-42, British-Indian Government reports on civilian evacuation 1942-43 and British-Indian government reports (1940-45) on plantation workers and employees of the Burma Oil Company will be studied along with written narratives of survivors, available in English and Bengali.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Historiography, Migrant Trauma, Forced Migration, Oral History, Narratology, South Asia
