Remembering Partition

Gyanendra Pandey's canonical work, Remembering Partition, first published in 2001, sought to recover the history of Partition as a re-negotiation and re-ordering of historical relationships, hierarchies and practices among communities caught in moments of unimagined and unprecedented disruption. On its Silver Jubilee, the author deepens his critique of statist histories written in the shadow of nationalism through his juxtaposition of historians' history with popular memories in the matter of representing Partition. Expanding his analysis of the received understanding of history, memory and archive, he updates the entire text in the light of important recent research and writings. A new chapter, focused on depressed castes and classes largely marginalized in Partition studies when Remembering Partition was first published, significantly enriches this major work of history and historiography. In a time of increasing partitions and violence, Pandey's sustained critique of history-writing and nationalist myth-making gains greater urgency.