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Citizen Refugee: Forging the Indian Nation after Partition

Sen, Uditi

Authors



Abstract

This innovative study explores the interface between nation-building and refugee rehabilitation in post-partition India. Relying on archival records and oral histories, Uditi Sen analyses official policy towards Hindu refugees from eastern Pakistan to reveal a pan-Indian governmentality of rehabilitation. This governmentality emerged in the Andaman Islands, where Bengali refugees were recast as pioneering settlers. Not all refugees, however, were willing or able to live up to this top-down vision of productive citizenship. Their reminiscences reveal divergent negotiations of rehabilitation 'from below'. Educated refugees from dominant castes mobilised their social and cultural capital to build urban 'squatters' colonies', while poor Dalit refugees had to perform the role of agricultural pioneers to access aid. Policies of rehabilitation marginalised single and widowed women by treating them as 'permanent liabilities'. These rich case studies dramatically expand our understanding of popular politics and everyday citizenship in post-partition India.

Citation

Sen, U. (2018). Citizen Refugee: Forging the Indian Nation after Partition. Cambridge University Press (CUP). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108348553

Book Type Authored Book
Acceptance Date Jun 30, 2018
Online Publication Date Aug 16, 2018
Publication Date 2018
Deposit Date Oct 10, 2019
Publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP)
ISBN 9781108425612
DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108348553
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2796223
Publisher URL https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/citizen-refugee/61B6847E8C0DF80B292E4159A54E3E90