ABSTRACT

The article analyses recent public initiatives to memorialise the establishment of India and Pakistan as postcolonial states in terms of violent partitioning rather than as a successful act of independence from British imperialism. The twin focal points of the article are the Partition Museum in Amritsar and the online 1947 Partition Archive. Both of these subscribe to and further the view that difficult and dissonant heritage holds transformative potential – which is seen as particularly significant in a region marked by conflictual state relations, majoritarian nationalism and extensive communal violence. However, as the article demonstrates, even though the Partition Museum and the 1947 Partition Archive collect and store previously unheard accounts of suffering, migration and rehabilitation as well as disseminate and make these available to the wider public, they fail to bring about a critical re-appraisal of the event, its lasting consequences and nation building as such. Whereas the Partition Museum – through the layout and content of its core exhibition – reproduces standard conceptions and imageries of national belonging and statehood, both initiatives rely on a use of oral history that remains overly committed to accentuating individualised and localised experiences, and to the positing of these as markers of authenticity.

摘要

这篇文章分析了最近的公开倡议，以用暴力分割的方式纪念印度和巴基斯坦成为后殖民国家，而不是成功摆脱英国帝国主义的行为。本文的两个重点是阿姆利则分区博物馆和在线1947年分区档案馆。两者都支持并进一步认为，困难和不和谐的遗产具有变革性的潜力-在以冲突国家关系，专制民族主义和广泛的社区暴力为特征的地区，这一点尤为重要。但是，正如文章所表明的那样，即使分区博物馆和1947年分区档案馆收集并存储了以前闻所未闻的苦难账目，移民和复兴，以及将其传播并提供给更广泛的公众，它们未能对事件，事件的持久后果和国家建设等进行重新评估。分区博物馆通过其核心展览的布局和内容来再现国家归属和国家地位的标准构想和图像，而这两项举措都依赖口头历史的使用，而口头历史仍然过分致力于强调个人化和本地化的体验，并提出了主张。这些都是真实性的标志。