Violent Belongings

The 1947 Partition of India resulted in the death of two million people and the displacement of sixteen million more. It continues to haunt contemporary life in India-not only for discourse that debates the place of religion in India, but also for the historical interpretation of justice and minority belongings, and for the tension-ridden struggle over the production of secular, national culture in the subcontinent.Violent Belongingsis about the relation between culture in the subcontinent world, exploring contemporary ethnic and gendered violence, and the questions about belonging that trouble nations and nationalisms today. Kavita Daiya examines South Asian ethnic violence and related mass migration in and after 1947 though its representation in postcolonial Indian, and more broadly, global South Asian literature and culture. By investigating such texts as Khushwant SinghsTrain to Pakistanwith Salman RushdiesShalimar the Clownand Jhumpa LahirisThe Interpreter of Maladies, alongside the writings of Mahatma Gandhi and Bollywood cinema- diasporic films like Deepa MehtasEarth-Daiya illuminates the cultural and political negotiation of postcolonial migration, nationality and violence in transnational public spheres.