A talk by Sayeed Ferdous, Professor of Anthropology at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh, on his new book, Partition as Border: Making East Bengal, East Pakistan and Bangladesh, a critical analysis of Partition experiences from East Bengal in 1947 and its prolonged aftermath leading to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
Event moderated by Elora Shehabuddin, Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies and Global Studies and Director, Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, UC Berkeley.
Nusrat Rabbee, Lecturer at the Department of Statistics, will serve as discussant.
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Event live streamed on FB at: ChowdhuryCenter atUCBerkeley
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About the Book: This book critically analyzes the Partition experiences from East Bengal in 1947 and its prolonged aftermath leading to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. It looks at how newly emerged borderlands at the time of Partition affected lives and triggered prolonged consequences for the people living in East Bengal/Bangladesh. The author brings to the fore unheard voices and unexplored narratives, especially those relating the experience of different groups of Muslims in the midst of the falling apart of the unified Muslim identity. Drawing on in-depth ethnographic research and archival resources, the volume analyzes various themes such as partition literature, local narratives of border-making, smuggling, border violence, refugees, identity conflicts, border crossing, and experiences of the Bihari Muslims and the Hindus of East Pakistan, among others.
A unique study in border-making, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of history, South Asian history, Partition studies, oral history, anthropology, political history, refugee studies, minority studies, political science, and borderland studies.
About the Author: Sayeed Ferdous has been teaching anthropology at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh, since 1995 after he graduated from there. He has also completed Masters from Universiteit van Amsterdam, Netherlands and, Ph.D. in History from Lancaster University, UK. Sayeed finds his niche in the blurred zone of the disciplines of History and Anthropology. His areas of interest include historiography, memory/forgetting, subaltern, postcolonial nation, nation-state, and nationalism. The focus of his Ph.D. research was on the East Bengal/Pakistan episode of the 1947 Partition and its prolonged aftermath in Bangladesh. Sayeed loves to talk about his areas of interest and has decent exposure in social media. He is jointly conducting a research project on the Partition migrants to Dhaka, in partnership with Goethe Institute, Bangladesh, titled ‘Inherited Memories (Part II).’
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Established in 2013 with a generous gift from the Subir & Malini Chowdhury Foundation, The Subir & Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies at UC Berkeley champions the study of Bangladesh’s cultures, peoples and history. The first of its kind in the US, the Center’s mission is to create an innovative model combining research, scholarships, the promotion of art and culture, and the building of ties between institutions in Bangladesh and the University of California.
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PARKING INFORMATION Please note that parking is not always easily available in Berkeley. Take public transportation if possible or arrive early to secure your spot.
Event is FREE and OPEN to the public.
