‘Partition Tragedy’: Special Lecture Examines Women’s Experiences of Violence
Scholars discuss violence, displacement, identity and memory through women’s experiences during Partition
- Special lecture examined women’s experiences of violence during Partition.
- Dr Reena Kapoor presented research based on primary, field and oral sources.
- Speakers highlighted the human dimension of Partition beyond political boundaries.
- More than 70 historians, teachers, researchers and scholars attended.
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 12th Aug: A special lecture on the traumatic experiences of women during the Partition of India was organised in New Delhi on Tuesday, focusing on violence, displacement, identity, faith and memory.
The programme was held under the ‘Naamoolam Likhyate Kinchit’ lecture series by the Delhi Province of the Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Yojana Samiti and Madhav Sanskriti Nyas at the auditorium of the central office of the Akhil Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Yojana at Keshav Kunj, Jhandewalan.
Dr Reena Kapoor, Assistant Professor at Dayal Singh Evening College, University of Delhi, delivered the keynote lecture on “Interrogating Gender and Faith: Women’s Experiences of Violence during the Partition of Bhāratavarṣa.”
Drawing on primary and original sources, field studies and oral accounts, Dr Kapoor examined women’s experiences of violence, displacement and socio-cultural trauma during Partition.
She underlined that the history of Partition was not limited to the redrawing of political boundaries, but also included the suffering, struggles and questions of identity faced by countless families, particularly women.
The programme began with a mangalacharan by Akash Awasthi, a scholar at the Centre for Hindu Studies, University of Delhi. The subject was introduced by Dr Abhishek Priyadarshi, Assistant Professor, College of Vocational Studies, University of Delhi.
Prof Rajnish Shukla, National Vice-President of the Akhil Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Yojana and former Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, attended as the special guest. He highlighted factors associated with the Partition and spoke about remaining alert to challenges in the present context.
In his presidential address, Prof Shivkumar Mishra, Professor in the Department of History at IGNOU, stressed the need to examine Partition through a broader historical and human perspective.
The programme was conducted by Dr Nirmal Pandey, while Dr Ajay Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor at Swami Shraddhanand College, University of Delhi, delivered the vote of thanks.
More than 70 historians, teachers, researchers, social science scholars and history thinkers attended the programme. The organisers said the lecture sought to place women’s experiences at the centre of Partition history and promote deeper academic discussion on violence, faith, identity and memory.
The programme concluded with the singing of Vande Mataram.
