Partition, Pakistan, and South Asian History

In Search of a Narrative

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3609997
AutoresDavid Gilmartin (autor de correspondencia)
Año1998
Volumen57
Número4
Páginas1068-1095
Fecha de publicación1998-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0021-9118 • E-ISSN: 1752-0401
EditorialDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/2659304
OpenAlexW2020495186
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas56
Referencias citadas36

Few events have been more important to the history of modern South Asia than the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan in 1947. The coming of partition has cast a powerful shadow on historical reconstructions of the decades before 1947, while the ramifications of partition have continued to leave their mark on subcontinental politics fifty years after the event.Yet, neither scholars of British India nor scholars of Indian nationalism have been able to find a compelling place for partition within their larger historical narratives (Pandey 1994, 204-5). For many British empire historians, partition has been treated as an illustration of the failure of the "modernizing" impact of colonial rule, an unpleasant blip on the transition from the colonial to the postcolonial worlds. For many nationalist Indian historians, it resulted from the distorting impact of colonialism itself on the transition to nationalism and modernity, "the unfortunate outcome of sectarian and separatist politics," and "a tragic accompaniment to the exhilaration and promise of a freedom fought for with courage and valour" (Menon and Bhasin 1998, 3

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · BENGAL · Colonialism · Literature · Modernity · Narrative · Nationalism · Partition (number theory) · Political science · Politics · Sociology · South asia · Gender Studies · History · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · South Asian Studies and Diaspora