Ramchand Pakistani , Khamosh Pani and the traumatic evocation of Partition

Bibliographic Data

ID12346304
AuthorsHumaira Saeed (0000-0001-8333-3481, University of Manchester, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume19
Issue4
Pages483-498
Publication date2009-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Semiotics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1035-0330 • E-ISSN: 1470-1219
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10350330903361166
OpenAlexW2010351778
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited8

This article will address the themes of partition, gender and trauma within two independent films from Pakistan, Sabiha Sumar's Khamosh Pani (2003) and Mehreen Jabbar's Ramchand Pakistani (2008). The article will consider how the events of 1947 – partition of India and creation of Pakistan – recur within the films as disruptive trauma. The article will consider what an engagement with the characteristics of trauma such as involuntary recall and disruption can bring to my readings of the films. Connections are established between women's experiences of ethnic tensions within the contemporary settings of the films and the gendered experiences of 1947. These are expressed in distinct ways, however; the prominence of the themes of trauma within both work to create a powerful presentation of women's subjectivity in Pakistan. Further to this, they draw attention to the possible inevitability of trauma being central to identities and locations forged out of a partition that entailed border creation, large-scale disruption, and violence. The article will conclude that close readings of both films highlight the role of the traumatic in the formation of gendered national identities

Epistemology · Ethnic group · Ethnic violence · Evocation · Partition (number theory · Sociology · Subjectivity · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Philosophy · South Asian Cinema and Culture · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · South Asian Studies and Diaspora

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