Madhurima Guha

Roll Number- S213DHS20

Dissertation Proposal

Title of dissertation- Voice of the Voiceless: Oral Histories and the Traumas of Partition

Abstract- The partition of India and Pakistan, as we know was the biggest turning point of our
country and a bloody path towards independence from the British raj. However, The elite, party
members, and a small number of powerful people are mostly featured in the politics and history
of the partition, but the stories of how everyday people survived are still insufficiently reported.
Partition experience varied for different people, people became the victim somewhere, and some
became the villain. In this dissertation, I want to work on the oral histories of partition and work
on how the partition was experienced on the ground, by the people. My primary sources will be
the interviews of partition survivors and their stories.

Chapters:
1) Introduction: Partition Overview
2) How Partition is a `collective and a social memory
3) Oral histories around partition, stories and works of scholars
4) Interviews with partition survivors: survival stories of partition victims
5) Interpretation of the interviews: How and why partition experience was different for
different people
6) Conclusion

For this dissertation, I need the permission of the university to conduct interviews with people
who were there during the partition, or their successive generations who can tell the stories of
their elders who faced the partition.

Thank You
Madhurima Guha