The partition of India and photography

Abstract

The Partition of 1947 was one of the most tragic events in Indian history. The chaos that occured due to the communal violence and migration as consequence of Partition, affected the lives of millions. However, only in recent times has the experiences and perspective of the victims of Partition surfaced through historiography. This thesis argues that more research needs to be done through the interrogation of photographs Partition atrocities; as people in them have had their agency to depict their own experiences taken from them by the imposing gaze of commercialisation and the Western understanding of Partition by American photographer, Margaret Bourke-White. Furthermore, access of these photographs Partition atrocities were limited to the people affected before and after Partition as the Indian government censored their circulation in major newspapers such as Times of India. Thus this thesis will expose these different mechanisms of oppression of the agency of Partition victims to show or say their own experiences of Partition.