Faith, Gender, and Activism in the Punjab Conflict

Beschreibung

Punjab was the arena of one of the first major armed conflicts of post-colonial India. During its deadliest decade, as many as 250,000 people were killed. This book makes an urgent intervention in the history of the conflict, which to date has been characterized by a fixation on sensational violence—or ignored altogether. Mallika Kaur unearths the stories of three people who found themselves at the center of Punjab’s human rights movement: Baljit Kaur, who armed herself with a video camera to record essential evidence of the conflict; Justice Ajit Singh Bains, who became a beloved “people’s judge”; and Inderjit Singh Jaijee, who returned to Punjab to document abuses even as other elites were fleeing. Together, they are credited with saving countless lives. Braiding oral histories, personal snapshots, and primary documents recovered from at-risk archives, Kaur shows that when entire conflicts are marginalized, we miss essential stories: stories of faith, feminist action, and the power of citizen-activists.
Punjab was the arena of one of the first major armed conflicts of post-colonial India. During its deadliest decade, as many as 250,000 people were killed. This book makes an urgent intervention in the history of the conflict, which to date has been characterized by a fixation on sensational violence—or ignored altogether. Mallika Kaur unearths the stories of three people who found themselves at the center of Punjab’s human rights movement: Baljit Kaur, who armed herself with a video camera to record essential evidence of the conflict; Justice Ajit Singh Bains, who became a beloved “people’s judge”; and Inderjit Singh Jaijee, who returned to Punjab to document abuses even as other elites were fleeing. Together, they are credited with saving countless lives. Braiding oral histories, personal snapshots, and primary documents recovered from at-risk archives, Kaur shows that when entire conflicts are marginalized, we miss essential stories: stories of faith, feminist action, and the power of citizen-activists.
Brings together personal narrative, oral history, and scholarly rigor to offer a new perspective on an understudied conflict Draws on a wide range of primary sources, including videos, legal forensics, and other materials from at-risk, near-extinct archives Appeals to scholars, students, and activists interested in South Asian studies, oral history, memory studies, gender and conflict, transitional justice, Sikh culture and history, and the history of postcolonial India

Autor*in

Mallika Kaur

Themen in »Faith, Gender, and Activism in the Punjab Conflict«

Indian Punjab Armed conflict ethnic conflicts Transitional Justice Women and armed violence Collective memory citizen activism postcolonial India Indian nationalism human rights

Stimmen zu »Faith, Gender, and Activism in the Punjab Conflict«

“Kaur provides a multi-layered account of modern Punjab and Sikh history. … this book is a work of community memorialisation, and Kaur has stitched together a blanket from patches of community and personal memories. In doing so, she has weaved a powerful tool for collective catharsis and healing.” (Guneet Kaur, outlookindia.com, April 30, 2022)

“Discrepancy haunts the question of violence in modern India. The very first page of Mallika Kaur’s remarkable new book, Faith, Gender, and Activism in the Punjab Conflict: The Wheat Fields Still Whisper, reveals a glimpse into this predicament. … The novelty of the book lies foremost in its structure. Rather than proceeding chronologically, it simultaneously moves backward from 1995 and forward from 1839, to converge at the pivotal year of 1984.” (Navyug Gill, scroll.in, April 24, 2022)

“I read Mallika Kaur's beautifully written book at a gallop. Police raids, villagers' resistance, women's defiance, torturers, survivors, electoral violence, strategic silences. It's all here. But what is remarkable is how Mallika Kaur allows us to listen in on these lively, risky conversations as Sikh women and men unravel the Indian official story and together weave a more reliable, complex political narrative.” (Cynthia Enloe, Clark University, New York, USA)

“Deftly braiding oral history with recorded history, Mallika Kaur brings to the reader memories and tales of the long Punjab struggle with a painful, bracing immediacy. We listen as three ordinary – and not so ordinary – people describe how they chose engagement, not indifference; dignity and humanity over collusion with state violence and corruption. A vivid reminder that beyond the statistics in human rights reports and the details of unending legal cases, lie courage, humor, caring, and simple commitment to truth.” (AngelaP. Harris, UC Davis School of Law, California, USA)

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