The 1947 Partition of India resulted in the death of two million people and the displacement of sixteen million more. It continues to haunt contemporary life in India - not only for discourses that debate the place of religion in India, but also for the historical interpretation of justice and minority belonging, and for the tension-ridden struggle over the production of secular national culture in the subcontinent. "Violent Belongings" is about the relation between culture and violence in the modern world, exploring contemporary ethnic and gendered violence, and the questions about belonging that trouble nations and nationalisms today. Daiya examines South Asian ethnic violence and related mass migration in and after 1947 through its representation in postcolonial Indian and, more broadly, global South Asian literature and culture, investigating such texts as Salman Rushdie's "Shalimar the Clown" and Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Interpreter of Maladies" and the writings of Mahatma Gandhi, as well as Bollywood cinema and films like Deepa Mehta's "Earth".
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Editorial Reviews
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"Daiya has argued persuasively and perceptively for the combination of literary and cinematic texts, deftly combining these with social history and journalism to produce informed, contextualized readings of the cultural moment. Engagingly written, covering a longish (fifty-year) history of literary and film texts with surprising contextual detail, Violent Belongings embraces a dauntingly sophisticated theoretical repertoire which Daiya handles with confidence, tact, and common sense." Henry Schwarz, Georgetown University "[Daiya's] analysis takes up varied representations of gendered violence in Bollywood and popular fiction, then carries the analysis of gendered national identity into the diaspora and refugee displacement in the postcolonial public sphere." Choice "Kavita Daiya's book, Violent Belongings, belongs to that rather nebulous genre of culture studies, for which her genealogy, Chicago and Homi Bhabha, seems impeccable. Her methodology is fashionably postcolonial, that is, it is suitably eclectic, employing textual strategies ranging from reading against the grain to deconstruction to more conventional narration of the storyline. She flits from text to text, taking up fiction at times, and journalism and cinema at others. Perhaps it is in this multiplicity of texts that the strength of her work lies -- most critics would either examine literature or cinema... The book is distinguished by its focus on cinema, along with literature." - The Journal of Intercultural Studies Volume 31, No. 2 "Violent Belongings not only adds to the rich discussion of Partition by the established works...but also pushes discussions of Partition out of their expected temporal and spacial framework... Thus, while the text provides an essential rearticulation of scholarly approaches towards Partition, it also conveys the potential for new types of transnational scholarship that reimagine the theoretical framework of violence and citizenship. Daiya's expert discussion serves as a necessary reminder that violence of this magnitude does not simply cease or stay put, but travels through time and space. After reading this essential text, it will be impossible to discuss Partitions as if its legacy was contained within the borders it created." - South Asia Review
Book Description
Focusing on the historical and contemporary narration of the Partition of India, Violent Belongings examines transnational South Asian culture from 1947 onwards. Spanning the Indian subcontinent and its diasporas in the United Kingdom and the United States, it asks how postcolonial/diasporic literature (eg., Rushdie, Mistry, Sidwa and Lahiri), Bollywood film, personal testimonies and journalism represent the violence, migration and questions of national belonging unleashed by that pivotal event during which two million people died and sixteen million were displaced.
In addition to challenging the official narratives of independence and Partition, these narratives challenge our contemporary understanding of gender and ethnicity in history and politics. Violent Belongings argues that both male and female bodies, and heterosexual coupledom, became symbols of the nation in public life. In the newly independent Indian nation both men and women were transformed into ideal citizens or troubling bodies, immigrants or refugees, depending on whether they were ethnically Hindu, Muslim, Jewish or Sikh. The divisions set in motion during Partition continue into our own time and account for ethnic violence in South Asia.
--This text refers to the
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In addition to challenging the official narratives of independence and Partition, these narratives challenge our contemporary understanding of gender and ethnicity in history and politics. Violent Belongings argues that both male and female bodies, and heterosexual coupledom, became symbols of the nation in public life. In the newly independent Indian nation both men and women were transformed into ideal citizens or troubling bodies, immigrants or refugees, depending on whether they were ethnically Hindu, Muslim, Jewish or Sikh. The divisions set in motion during Partition continue into our own time and account for ethnic violence in South Asia.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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red raincoat, postcolonial public sphere, romantic coupledom, national secularism, hegemonic public sphere, postcolonial citizenship, evacuee property, gendered ethnicity, abducted women, subaltern past, heterosexual coupledom, national masculinity, national modernity, ethnic citizenship, utopian imaginings, ethnic violence, abducted woman, national belonging, male refugee Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
South Asian, United States, Crisis Made Flesh, Asian American, Cracking India, Ice-Candy Man, Re-Gendering the Nation, Salim Mirza, Indian Muslim, Provincializing the Nation, Sri Lanka, North America, Hukum Chand, Mano Majra, East Pakistan, Garam Hawa, Bapsi Sidhwa, Homi Bhabha, Pakistani Muslim, Urvashi Butalia, Khushwant Singh, Ishwar Singh, Apna Desh, West Pakistan, Meghe Dhaka Tara Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
red raincoat, postcolonial public sphere, romantic coupledom, national secularism, hegemonic public sphere, postcolonial citizenship, evacuee property, gendered ethnicity, abducted women, subaltern past, heterosexual coupledom, national masculinity, national modernity, ethnic citizenship, utopian imaginings, ethnic violence, abducted woman, national belonging, male refugee Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
South Asian, United States, Crisis Made Flesh, Asian American, Cracking India, Ice-Candy Man, Re-Gendering the Nation, Salim Mirza, Indian Muslim, Provincializing the Nation, Sri Lanka, North America, Hukum Chand, Mano Majra, East Pakistan, Garam Hawa, Bapsi Sidhwa, Homi Bhabha, Pakistani Muslim, Urvashi Butalia, Khushwant Singh, Ishwar Singh, Apna Desh, West Pakistan, Meghe Dhaka Tara Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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