Book launch: ‘Oral histories should not follow a linear narrative’
Says the way Pakistani and Indian children have been taught history is responsible for stereotypical representations
PHOTOS : MOHAMMAD AHSAN
LAHORE:
One should not follow a linear narrative in recording oral history. Good and evil should not be seen as set in stone, said Anam Zakaria, writer of Footprints of Partition, at the launch of her book at Faiz Ghar on Friday.
She said initially the stories narrated by most of her respondents for the oral history project of the Citizens’ Archive of Pakistan (CAP) were in line with the mainstream narrative that viewed India as an enemy. She said this was understandable in view of the impact of the dominant narrative on the memories of her respondents. She said as she kept returning to her respondents with questions about their partition stories, they eventually started divulging details that contradicted the dominant narrative. “People [in Pakistan] had earlier remembered only the violence and bloodshed during the days leading to the partition. Later, they also mentioned their friendships with Hindus,” she said. The book explores the narratives of four generations about the partition of India and establishment of Pakistan as a separate state. She said she had explored the community where Muslim and Hindus coexisted before eruption of violence during days leading up to the partition. She said she had done that by narrating accounts of the generation that experienced life in pre-partition communities in both countries. She said she had covered stories of divided families to remind people about the shared past of people in the two countries.
“The third generation since partition views it as just another event. I got interested in compiling oral histories of the partition while working with the CAP,” she said.
Zakaria said a lot of people excused themselves from telling their stories about partition. “They did not want to recall the experience. They told me it was no use exploring those stories now,” she said.
For some of her respondents, she said recollection was therapeutic. Some were traumatised. She said a woman fainted as she was telling her about her experience at a refugee camp in Delhi. “She had not spoken about the events for many years,” she said.
Zakaria said she also explored the views of the younger generation about people in their neighbor country. She said school children in Pakistan would often make fun of common Hindu names and deities. On the Indian side, she said most school children associated Pakistanis with religious fanaticism. “A child ran away from me when he found out that I was from Pakistan because she thought I was related to Ajmal Kasab,” she said. She said the way history was taught at schools in both countries was responsible for the persistence of these stereotypes.
About differences between stories of people from Pakistan and India, Zakaria said people in India were more forthcoming about happy memories of their pre-partition past. In Pakistan, she said it seemed that people were not nostalgic about life before partition because they feared that it could be seen as unpatriotic.
Zakaria also read out a story from the book. The experiences of the protagonist, a Pakistani named Rauf, during his journey to India after partition showed him that the country was no different from Pakistan. A Sikh official who received him on the border also took him as one of his own after seeing on his passport that he was born in Amritsar.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2015.
One should not follow a linear narrative in recording oral history. Good and evil should not be seen as set in stone, said Anam Zakaria, writer of Footprints of Partition, at the launch of her book at Faiz Ghar on Friday.
She said initially the stories narrated by most of her respondents for the oral history project of the Citizens’ Archive of Pakistan (CAP) were in line with the mainstream narrative that viewed India as an enemy. She said this was understandable in view of the impact of the dominant narrative on the memories of her respondents. She said as she kept returning to her respondents with questions about their partition stories, they eventually started divulging details that contradicted the dominant narrative. “People [in Pakistan] had earlier remembered only the violence and bloodshed during the days leading to the partition. Later, they also mentioned their friendships with Hindus,” she said. The book explores the narratives of four generations about the partition of India and establishment of Pakistan as a separate state. She said she had explored the community where Muslim and Hindus coexisted before eruption of violence during days leading up to the partition. She said she had done that by narrating accounts of the generation that experienced life in pre-partition communities in both countries. She said she had covered stories of divided families to remind people about the shared past of people in the two countries.
“The third generation since partition views it as just another event. I got interested in compiling oral histories of the partition while working with the CAP,” she said.
Zakaria said a lot of people excused themselves from telling their stories about partition. “They did not want to recall the experience. They told me it was no use exploring those stories now,” she said.
For some of her respondents, she said recollection was therapeutic. Some were traumatised. She said a woman fainted as she was telling her about her experience at a refugee camp in Delhi. “She had not spoken about the events for many years,” she said.
Zakaria said she also explored the views of the younger generation about people in their neighbor country. She said school children in Pakistan would often make fun of common Hindu names and deities. On the Indian side, she said most school children associated Pakistanis with religious fanaticism. “A child ran away from me when he found out that I was from Pakistan because she thought I was related to Ajmal Kasab,” she said. She said the way history was taught at schools in both countries was responsible for the persistence of these stereotypes.
About differences between stories of people from Pakistan and India, Zakaria said people in India were more forthcoming about happy memories of their pre-partition past. In Pakistan, she said it seemed that people were not nostalgic about life before partition because they feared that it could be seen as unpatriotic.
Zakaria also read out a story from the book. The experiences of the protagonist, a Pakistani named Rauf, during his journey to India after partition showed him that the country was no different from Pakistan. A Sikh official who received him on the border also took him as one of his own after seeing on his passport that he was born in Amritsar.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2015.