Abstract
Gender and the distortion of memory are two important aspects of Partition literature about the division of the Indian subcontinent into two nations, India and Pakistan. Women writers, such as Geetanjali Shree in Tomb of Sand (2022) and Anjali Enjeti in The Parted Earth (2021), delineate the collective trauma of the 1947 Partition of India through the theme of memory. This article will demonstrate two types of violence experienced by women during the time - political violence (perpetrated by Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs) and patriarchal violence and uncover how their memories haunt and shape their present, constructing and reconstructing their historical and psychological trauma. Through the framework of Maurice Halbwachs’ “collective memory,” this article focuses on three forms of gendered narratives found in select fictional works: physically wounded and abducted women, martyred women, and unwed mothers. These traumatic memories transcend subjective experience to become expressions of solidarity with the unheard voices of the subcontinent’s women.
Recommended Citation
Sarkar, Abi and Sarkar, Sandip
(2026)
"Collective Memory of Partition: A Study of Trauma, Martyrdom, and Survival in Women’s Post-Partition Fiction,"
Journal of International Women's Studies: Vol. 28:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol28/iss1/6