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CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN POST PARTITION BENGAL, 1947-65

ROY, HAIMANTI
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1147886544

Abstract Details

2006, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences : History.
This dissertation focuses on the Partition of Bengal in 1947 and its aftermath to 1965 to examine how India and Pakistan legitimized and symbolically reproduced markers of national identity. It argues that specific concepts of what constituted loyal citizens, Partition violence and legitimate victimhood critically influenced the establishment of post-Partition states in the Bengal region. Through the themes of national imagination, border politics, violence and refugee rehabilitation, this dissertation explores the official and unofficial processes, which sought to produce national identities of Hindus and Muslims as Indians and Pakistanis. These conflicting attempts to homogenize national identities in religious terms were contested in the post partition period, as identities based on region, language and culture competed for primacy. The dissertation argues that on the eve of Partition despite increasingly communalized spaces, multiple imaginings of nationhood existed. Political contingency rather than the historical trajectory of “communalism” guided the decision to divide Bengal. The Partition and nationhood are addressed through the examination of the social and economic impact of the new border and the sporadic violence, both physical and psychological that especially targeted minorities, Hindus in East Pakistan and Muslims in West Bengal. Along with territorial delimitation, minority citizens became intricately linked with the evolution of national identity, self definition and legitimacy of each state. The dissertation also focuses specifically on the trans-territorial relationship between the Indian state and Hindu migrants from East Pakistan who strategically claimed to be “refugees” in order to demand Indian citizenship. Finally this dissertation complicates normative discourses of national identity formation and the uncritical understanding of “secular” India and “Islamic” Pakistan.
Dr. Barbara Ramusack (Advisor)
296 p.
History, Asia, Australia and Oceania
South Asia; India; History; Partition of India; Partition of Bengal; East Pakistan; West Bengal,; Citizenship; Nationalism; National Identity; 1947; Violence; Border; Refugees; Migration

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • ROY, H. (2006). CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN POST PARTITION BENGAL, 1947-65 [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1147886544

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • ROY, HAIMANTI. CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN POST PARTITION BENGAL, 1947-65. 2006. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1147886544.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • ROY, HAIMANTI. "CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN POST PARTITION BENGAL, 1947-65." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1147886544

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1147886544
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© 2006, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.