THE PARTITION OF INDIA MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN, MIDNIGHT’S FURIES India was the first nation to undertake decolonization in Asia and Africa following World War Two An estimated 15 million people were displaced during the Partition of India Partition saw the largest migration of humans in the 20th Century, outside war and famine Approximately 83,000 women were kidnapped on both sides of the newly-created border The death toll remains disputed, 1 – 2 million Less than 12 men decided the future of 400 million people 1 Wednesday October 3rd 2018 Christopher Tidyman – Loreto Kirribilli, Sydney HISTORY EXTENSION AND MODERN HISTORY History Extension key questions Who are the historians? What is the purpose of history? How has history been constructed, recorded and presented over time? Why have approaches to history changed over time? Year 11 Shaping of the Modern World: The End of Empire A study of the causes, nature and outcomes of decolonisation in ONE country Year 12 National Studies India 1942 - 1984 2 HISTORY EXTENSION PA R T I T I O N OF INDIA SYLLABUS DOT POINTS: CONTENT FOCUS: S T U D E N T S INVESTIGATE C H A N G I N G INTERPRETATIONS OF THE PARTITION OF INDIA Students examine the historians and approaches to history which have contributed to historical debate in the areas of: - the causes of the Partition - the role of individuals - the effects and consequences of the Partition of India Aims for this presentation: - Introduce teachers to a new History topic - Outline important shifts in Partition historiography - Provide an opportunity to discuss resources and materials - Have teachers consider the possibilities for teaching these topics 3 SHIFTING HISTORIOGRAPHY WHO ARE THE HISTORIANS? WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY? F I E R C E CONTROVERSY HAS RAGED OVER THE CAUSES OF PARTITION. PARTITION HISTORIOGRAPHY HAS BEEN CHARACTERIZED B Y S H I F T I N G HISTORICAL FOCUS, NEW PURPOSES, NEW CONSTRUCTIONS, N E W APPROACHES. SEVEN STAGES CAN BE IDENTIFIED: 1. The High Politics of Partition or Great Men History Shorthand for national-level constitutional negotiations between Indian leaders – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi – and Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India. Centred on Muslim League intransience, Congress insensitivities, British governmental failure. Indian historians argue that the Muslim League rejected Congress’s blueprint for a diverse, secular and plural state. In contrast, Pakistani historians view Partition as the triumphant vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the outcome of a pre-ordained Pakistan. Rarely escapes being labelled “Made in India” or Made in Pakistan” writes Ayesha Jalal. High Politics is a Blame Game. Loss, Victimhood. 2. Provincial High Politics During the early 1970s the High Politics approach began to move from national concerns to incorporate North Indian regional and localised studies, the Cambridge School of Indian History. For example, Francis Robinson (1974) investigated the politics of separatism and emerging identity politics among Indian Muslims in the United Provinces, looking to ways in which Muslim elites utilised historical symbols to mobilize support, often at the cost of communal harmony and the creation of religious-political identities and community formation processes. 3. The Historiography of the Human Dimension of Partition By the early 1980s the Subaltern Studies Group under the leadership of Ranajit Guha provided a necessary corrective to state-centric and High Politics perspectives which had dominated Partition historiography since 1947. This important sea-change saw one question come to replace all others – what happened to ordinary people and why during Partition? Subaltern historians sought out the experiences of witnesses through personal accounts, memoirs, collective memories and testimony. People’s history characterised this new historiographical direction. 4 SHIFTING HISTORIOGRAPHY CONTINUED 4. Partition Violence Alive to the influence of this emerging Subaltern Studies group, the traditional reading of Partition violence as ‘temporary madness’, ‘religious irrationality’ has come under scrutiny. 1997 - the 50th anniversary of Partition – was timely for spotlighting such violence. Women’s experiences were singled out during this shift in historical interest. 5. Looking Eastwards From 1947 Punjab dominated Partition historiography – traditional images of kafilas - bullock carts, refugees, train roofs, compartments crammed with refugees. During the past 20 years, however, interest has looked eastwards to Bengal, which experienced severe social, economic and political dislocation in the years 1943 – 1947. Historians have also revisited 1905 - 1911 and looked to Pakistan’s own partition and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. 6. Partition and the sharing of stories The 21st Century has seen further recalibrating in Partition Historiography as Subaltern interests have informed historical narratives constructed around Partition. Those impacted by Partition have been sought out and avenues created for sharing stories - web-based initiatives, interactive museums, art works, artefact collections, film and television programs dedicated to varied personal Partition experiences. 7. Partition as global human experience Partition was not a stand-alone South Asian event. Civil War, Ethnic Cleansing, Forced Migration, Mass Killings, Family Separation, Displacement, Refugee Resettlement, Kidnappings, Religious Rivalry, Rape, Holocaust, Legacy - a 21st Century glossary of Partition historiography. 5 COMMUNALISM AS A CAUSE OF PARTITION Punjab 1947 6 WAYS OF DEFINING COMMUNALISM Communalism in South Asia can be approached through three elements • A belief that people who follow the same religion have common secular interests - the same political, economic and social interests. • In multi-religious societies common secular interests of one religion are dissimilar from the interests of followers of another religion. • The interests of different religions or of different ‘communities’ are seen to be incompatible, antagonist and hostile. Three traditional views of Communalism • Primordial view – ethnic violence is rational because ethnicity is fixed and stable – language/race/religion informs identity - divides people • Essential view – Indian Hindus and Muslims are irreconcilably antagonistic towards each other by nature of their religious practice • Instrumental view – that political leaders find it advantageous to organise and mobilize along ethnic or communal lines and that the British Raj instigated this social organisation through a deliberate policy of divide and rule Questions Is communalism specific to South Asia? Should it be termed ‘ethnic violence’? Is communalism a product of British rule? Why does it bring violence? 7 THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITIES DURI NG THE POST - INDIAN MUTINY PERIOD T H E 1857- 58 INDIAN MUTINY HAD BEEN A BLOOD - LETTING EXERCISE CENTRED ON QUESTIONS OF RELIGIOUS AND C U LT U R A L IDENTITY, BELIEFS, RITES AND PRACTICES. THE NEW BRITISH R A J L O O K E D TO FIRMLY ESTABLISH ITS COLONIAL PRESENCE ON THE SUBCONTINENT. IN RESPONSE, MODERNIZED POLITICIZED ENTITIES – T H E 1885 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS IN BOMBAY AND IN DACCA (1906) THE CREATION OF THE ALL - I NDIA MUSLIM LEAGUE – R E F L E C T E D B R I T I S H P O L I C Y O F IDENTIFYING PEOPLE BY CULTURE (ETHNICITY, LANGUAGE, CUSTOM) AND HISTORY (ORIGIN AND COLLECTIVE STORIES ) . C O N G R E S S AND MUSLIM LEAGUE LEADERS BEGAN TO TAP INTO LOCALIZED, POPULAR F ORCES, LOOKING TO BUILD NATION - W I D E MOVEMENTS, CREATING HISTORICAL NARRATIVES OF OTHERNESS, OF IMAGINED COMMUNITIES. A DRAMATIC RISE IN COMMUNALIST AGITATION DURING THE INTERWAR YEARS FOLLOWED. ‘When the British started to define communities based on religious identity and attach political representation to them, many Indians stopped accepting the diversity of their own thoughts and began to ask themselves in which of the boxes they belonged’ - Alex von Tunzelmann – Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire 8 THE BRITISH RAJ AND DIVIDE ET IMPERA AS A CAUSE OF THE PARTITION OF INDIA He explained his importance as a Pillar of the Empire. ‘Most properly.’ I yawned openly. ‘Strict supervision, and play them off one against the other,’ said The Mussuck, shoveling down his ice by tureenfuls, I assure you. ‘That, Mrs Hauksbee, is the secret of our Government.’ Rudyard Kipling - ‘The Education of Otis Yeere’ published in The Week’s News, 10 and 17 March 1888. Below: A Dance of Death – this World War II Japanese leaflet shows Churchill as a fight promoter encouraging two Indians (a Hindu and a Muslim) to fight to the death. There are at least six dead Indians on the ground of the enclosure where the fight takes place. It points out how the British have set Indian against Indian to weaken them and make them easier to subjugate. The text says: Stop dancing to the English tune and come together forgetting religious differences for the sake of independence. 9 IN 1859 THE GOVERNOR OF BOMBAY LORD ELPHINSTONE, REFLECTING ON THE M U T I N Y , A D V I S E D LONDON THAT ‘DIVIDE ET IMPERA ’ (DIVIDE AND RULE) - A ROMAN IMPERIAL MAXIM - W A S ESSENTIAL TO THE BRITISH POLITICAL POSITION IN INDIA . CENSUS UNDERMINE CONCENSUS ! T H E INTRODUCTION OF AN INDIAN ETHNOGRAPHIC CENSUS IN 1 8 7 2 . T H E BRITISH CAME TO CLASSIFY PEOPLE BY THEIR RELIGION, CASTE OR TRIB E, BASED ON CENSUS COMMISSION QUESTIONS. HUMANLY C R E A T E D CATEGORIES REPLACED IMPRECISE PRE - C O L O N I A L BOUNDARIES IN RELATION TO CASTE, RELIGIOUS I D E N T I T Y , SKIN COLOUR AND RACE. H E R B E R T RISLEY , CENSUS COMMISSIONER, PUBLISHED ‘THE PEOPLE OF INDIA’ IN 1 9 0 1 . RISLEY ADMITTED FRANKLY THAT ‘ONE OF OUR MAIN OBJECTS IS TO SPLIT UP AN D THEREBY WEAKEN A SOLID BODY OF OPPONENTS TO OUR RULE’. HINDU - MUSLIM HISTORICAL CL EAVAGES WERE HIGHLIGHTED AND F O M E N T E D .