1st Edition

Refugees, Borders and Identities Rights and Habitat in East and Northeast India

By Anindita Ghoshal Copyright 2021
    336 Pages
    by Routledge India

    336 Pages
    by Routledge India

    This book examines the impact of Partition on refugees in East and Northeast India and their struggle for identity, space and political rights. In the wake of the legalisation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019, this region remains a hotbed of identity and refugee politics.

    Drawing on extensive research and in-depth fieldwork, this book discusses themes of displacement, rehabilitation, discrimination and politicisation of refugees that preceded and followed the Partition of India in 1947. It portrays the crises experienced by refugees in recreating the socio-cultural milieu of the lost motherland and the consequent loss of their linguistic, cultural, economic and ethnic identities. The author also studies how the presence of the refugees shaped the conduct of politics in West Bengal, Assam and Tripura in the decades following Partition.

    Refugees, Borders and Identities will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of refugee studies, border studies, South Asian history, migration studies, Partition studies, sociology, anthropology, political studies, international relations and refugee studies, and for general readers of modern Indian history.

    Introduction  1. Encountering the ‘Refugee’: Crafting the Policies  2. Dealing with the Refugees: Rehabilitation, Variation, Discrimination  3. Creating a New Refugee Domain: Assam and Tripura  4. Becoming Political: Politicisation of Refugees in West Bengal  5.  Politics as Defence: Activation of Refugees in Assam and Tripura  Epilogue

    Biography

    Anindita Ghoshal is Associate Professor of History at Diamond Harbour Women’s University, Kolkata, India. Her research interests include Partition and refugee studies, with special emphasis on eastern/northeastern India and Bangladesh. She has been the recipient of a Major Project Grant by OKDISCD-ICSSR (2017–18), Charles Wallace Trust Fellowship (2015), Academic and Foreign Travel Grant from the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) (Cardiff University, UK, 2013), Gautam Chattopadhyay Memorial Prize by Itihas Samsad (2013), Research-Writing Fellowship from MCRG (2012), UGC-MRP (2010) and a Short-Term Scholarship from the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka (2009). She has published various articles in reputed journals, as well as chapters in edited volumes. She has also presented her research in seminars/conferences in India and abroad. Currently, she works as co-investigator on a research project at the University of Manchester, UK, funded by AHRC (2018–2021).