Difference in Memory - Shadow Lines
Difference in Memory
MAHUA SARKAR
Sociology, Binghamton University, SUNY
Everyone lives in a story . . . because stories are all there is to live in, it was just a question of which one you chose . . . (Amitav Ghosh, The Shadow Lines)1
INTRODUCTION
The study of popular memory is necessarily relational. It involves the exploration of two sets of relations: (1) that between dominant memory and oppositional forms across the public field, including academic productions; and (2) the relation between public discourse and a more privatized sense of the past generated within lived culture.2 This paper is concerned with the second of these two constitutive relations in the study of popular memory— the often vexed but close linkages between public constructions and private reminiscences. The project began with what seemed to be a simple question: what might we learn about the final decades of colonial rule in Bengal, and especially about
Acknowledgements: My biggest debt in writing this paper is, of course, to the women I interviewed for generously sharing their experiences with me. Professor Hossenur Rahman and the late Mrs. Gaur Ayub helped me with my first contacts with members of the Muslim middle class in Calcutta. I am deeply indebted to them. Many of my contacts in Bangladesh, in turn, came through the personal networks of the women I interviewed in Calcutta. I am grateful for the hospitality of Mrs. Kishwar Jahan Quader, Mrs. Zeenat Ameen, Mrs. Selina Hossein, Mr. Akbar Hossein, Mr. Reza Ali and Mrs. Nayeema Ali, Susan Lee, Nripen and Meena Sarkar, who opened their homes to me in Calcutta and Dhaka. My parents, Bhabani Bhusan and Lily Sarkar, supported me throughout my fieldwork; this paper would not have been possible without them. A travel grant from The Program in Comparative International Development, Department of Sociology, The Johns Hopkins University made the initial trip to India possible. I am grateful to Beverly Silver, Antoinette Burton, Prasad
MAHUA SARKAR
Sociology, Binghamton University, SUNY
Everyone lives in a story . . . because stories are all there is to live in, it was just a question of which one you chose . . . (Amitav Ghosh, The Shadow Lines)1
INTRODUCTION
The study of popular memory is necessarily relational. It involves the exploration of two sets of relations: (1) that between dominant memory and oppositional forms across the public field, including academic productions; and (2) the relation between public discourse and a more privatized sense of the past generated within lived culture.2 This paper is concerned with the second of these two constitutive relations in the study of popular memory— the often vexed but close linkages between public constructions and private reminiscences. The project began with what seemed to be a simple question: what might we learn about the final decades of colonial rule in Bengal, and especially about
Acknowledgements: My biggest debt in writing this paper is, of course, to the women I interviewed for generously sharing their experiences with me. Professor Hossenur Rahman and the late Mrs. Gaur Ayub helped me with my first contacts with members of the Muslim middle class in Calcutta. I am deeply indebted to them. Many of my contacts in Bangladesh, in turn, came through the personal networks of the women I interviewed in Calcutta. I am grateful for the hospitality of Mrs. Kishwar Jahan Quader, Mrs. Zeenat Ameen, Mrs. Selina Hossein, Mr. Akbar Hossein, Mr. Reza Ali and Mrs. Nayeema Ali, Susan Lee, Nripen and Meena Sarkar, who opened their homes to me in Calcutta and Dhaka. My parents, Bhabani Bhusan and Lily Sarkar, supported me throughout my fieldwork; this paper would not have been possible without them. A travel grant from The Program in Comparative International Development, Department of Sociology, The Johns Hopkins University made the initial trip to India possible. I am grateful to Beverly Silver, Antoinette Burton, Prasad