Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 8-24-2015 12:00 AM "More or Less" Refugee?: Bengal Partition in Literature and Cinema Sarbani Banerjee The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Prof. Nandi Bhatia The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Comparative Literature A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Sarbani Banerjee 2015 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Banerjee, Sarbani, ""More or Less" Refugee?: Bengal Partition in Literature and Cinema" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 3125. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3125 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i “MORE OR LESS” REFUGEE? : BENGAL PARTITION IN LITERATURE AND CINEMA (Thesis format: Monograph) by Sarbani Banerjee Graduate Program in Comparative Literature A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Sarbani Banerjee 2015 ii ABSTRACT In this thesis, I problematize the dominance of East Bengali bhadralok immigrant’s memory in the context of literary-cultural discourses on the Partition of Bengal (1947). By studying post-Partition Bengali literature and cinema produced by upper-caste upper/middle- class East Bengali immigrant artists, such as Jyotirmoyee Devi’s novel The River Churning (Epar Ganga Opar Ganga 1967, Bengali) and Ritwik Ghatak’s film The Cloud-Capped Star (Meghe Dhaka Tara 1960, Bengali), I show how canonical artworks have propounded elitist truisms to the detriment of the non-bhadra refugees’ representations. To challenge these works, I compare them with perspectives available in Other refugee writers’ texts. These include Dalit first-generation literates’ experiences, as described in Adhir Biswas’ memoirs Deshbhager Smriti (Memory of Partition 2010, Bengali), Allar Jomite Paa (Stepping on the Land of Allah 2012, Bengali), and Manoranjan Byapari’s autobiography Itibritte Chandal Jibon (Memoir of Chandal Life 2012, Bengali). As well, I examine the alternative bhadramahila’s ethos, as portrayed in Sunanda Sikdar’s memoir Doyamoyeer Katha (Doyamoyee’s Tale 2008, Bengali). This examination expands the knowledge of Bengali refugee identity in India beyond fixed bhadralok immigrant-produced stereotypes, in the interest of a more egalitarian and complex understanding. To develop this thesis, I consult literary, historical, filmic and sociological documents on the Partition, feminist theories, theory of affect and theories of trauma and memory. I situate my readings of bhadra and non-bhadra refugees’ artistic representations within major historical contexts – India’s Partition (1947), the Indo-Pakistan War (1965), the Liberation War of Bangladesh (1971), and the Left Front’s forming government in West Bengal (1977). Placed against these moments, the texts in hand record Bengali refugees’ migration to India in different iii phases, and their dissimilar post-Partition experiences. The Introduction outlines the origins of identity-markers bhadralok, chhotolok/Dalit and bhadramahila, observing the role bhadralok play in Bengal’s Partition, the exploitation of Dalits in communal conflicts and the East Bengali bhadralok’s resettlement in West Bengal. Chapters 1 and 2 analyse memoirs on Bengal Parition written from non-bhadra perspectives. Chapters 3 and 4 study mainstream oeuvres and identify their allegiance to bhadralok ideology. My research, thus, revisits and compares the affective accounts of refugee bhadralok with alternative texts. iv Keywords: Post-Partition Bengal, Bengali literature, Bengali cinema, Ritwik Ghatak, Satyajit Ray, Jyotirmoyee Devi, Adhir Biswas, Manoranjan Byapari, Sunanda Sikdar, kitsch, sentimentalization, memory, refugee, Dalit, bhadralok, bhadramahila, chhotolok. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would, first of all, like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Nandi Bhatia, for her infinite support and for having faith in me, right from the time when this thesis was vague, and I was not sure of its future. I have dropped in to her office many times without any appointment, and even come up with queries when she was outside her office, but she never left any of my questions unanswered. In fact, her suggestions helped me think deeper on each of my ideas. Thanks to her extremely patient dealing with my slowly-becoming-confident brainchild, and her painstakingly correcting my drafts countless times, it has taken its desired shape today. I would say that my research questions lay dormant somewhere between the weak drafts I submitted, and the well- combed versions Prof. Bhatia enthusiastically returned to me every time. She is my model of unassuming merits – level-headedness, optimum confidence and foresight – all of which I tried to imbibe from her, in order to create the right temperament for my thesis. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof. Julia Emberley, my second reader, for the excellent insight and feedback she shared about my work. Despite being on a very tight schedule, she read the chapters with a lot of interest. The theoretical framework she recommended for my chapter readings has created a wider and more meaningful context, where I can locate my research. Like Prof. Bhatia, I have approached Prof. Emberley with my academic doubts several times outside of her office duty, and she has promptly and happily resolved my questions for me. I am truly grateful to her for bearing with me when I was lacking the objectivity required for handling academic criticism, and for understanding my intellectual persuasions. Without her comments, this thesis would be inadequate in a wrongly overoptimistic way. vi I am forever indebted to the Ontario government and the kindest donors who contributed to the Ontario Trillium Scholarship. You have financially made my graduate years at Western an immense success. It has always been my prerogative to live up to the standards of this highly competitive and prestigious scholarship, which supported my four years’ study at Western. Being a winner and recipient of the Ontario Trillium Award has not only been exceptionally gratifying, but also served as a reminder about the quality of work expected of me. I thank Prof. David Darby, our then Graduate Chair of Comparative Literature (when I entered the program in 2011), and Prof. Călin-Andrei Mihăilescu, our current Graduate Chair. If not for Prof. Darby, I would not have made the most vital contacts after coming to Western; if not for Prof. Mihăilescu, I would not know that not only surviving, but living a grad student’s life is equally important. Prof. Darby equipped me to face the initial days of student-hood at Western; Prof. Mihăilescu prodded me to quickly grow up as a “senior” member of our departmental-family. I have greedily taken the most I could of both these two wonderful mentors. Prof. Darby has corrected so many of my conference abstracts, even when he was on sabbatical. Prof. Mihăilescu has lent me his easygoing spirit and his unique perspectives (and great books), both in his office and at the Grad Club, when my thesis was undergoing its worst fight and I, for hours on end, would argue about my stand to him. If one of them cushioned my struggle as an international student, the other opened up my intellectual boundaries. Both of them have throughout provided me with departmental amenities, such as travel grant or permit for study visits to India, more willingly than I could have ever asked for. Here I am not even attempting to describe how I have selfishly eaten up a lot of their time from their busy schedules, just so I could get a kick out of my occasionally super-saturated dissertation. Both of them have vii inspired me to the fullest, and made my journey as a PhD scholar at Western rich and memorable. I would like to thank Prof. Joyce Bruhn de Garavito, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, and the Course Coordinator of Hindi 1030 that I have been teaching since 2012, for her gracious support in every possible way. From helping me with reference letters for my students, providing me with highly constructive feedback about my teaching, to allaying my classroom duties in the final year, she has always ensured that I am able to focus on my degree-based responsibilities. If I have had ample time to cogitate on my work, it was because Prof. Garavito, who is also my employer, very kindly urged me to prioritize my research over my calling as an instructor. I cannot proceed further without acknowledging the inestimable backings I received from Sylvia Kontra (Graduate Assistant), Dawn Gingerich (Administrative Assistant), Teresa Aconito (ex-Graduate Assistant) and Jamie Karp (Undergraduate Assistant). They have been superb, with all their energies, and ever-ready to help more. Be it in providing photocopies of my transcripts or determining the colour of my eyes for visa purposes, lending me a flash-drive when mine would not work