Transcending Indo-Pak borders to plant saplings:
Fakhra lives in Gujranwala Cantt, West Punjab. Srishti lives in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Both of us hail from Partition families. This summer we are coming together across the borders and combining our two passions: ecological preservation and preserving our history. Together we are planting 72 saplings to honor the memory of Partition witnesses, around the world.
The 72nd anniversary of independence from the British is upon us. This August 14th, we invite you to join us in commemorating cross-border shared histories and memories that have endured between people for the last 72 years since the 1947 Partition.
Was your grandfather/grandmother born in Pakistan, and migrated to India in 1947 or born in India and migrated to Pakistan or Bangladesh? For every $20 you donate, we will plant a tree in their honor. (Nominate your ancestor and their place of birth in your donation.)
Your donations will help us preserve 8 more invaluable oral histories of our shared heritage.
Srishtee #Chasingmemories:
"My main inspiration is the strength, values and the story itself of the partition witnesses. The fact that we are aiming to collect 10,000 stories through #chasingmemories means we are directly contributing to this important event of South Asian history and that remains a constant motivation. Every story is distinct and yet interlinked with emotions, nostalgia, camaraderie which stand out for me.
Having organized numerous Voices of Partition events in Mumbai at large and at universities we can realize the urgent need of spreading knowledge, discussing the chronology of stories as well as the overall socio-cultural impact of the Partition with communities and students today!
It is truly enriching to see how each memory connects to the community's history thereby connecting to a city's history. Dehradun in Uttarakhand is my hometown & where my grandparents' generation moved from Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the Partition was much affected by refugee displacement at the time of Partition, and central to events and narratives alike, as are several other small towns with numerous untold stories. This forms a core area of interest for me to share through #chasingmemories and engaging in dialogue around people's history and the Partition. The oral history method aligns with my doctoral work with Borderland communities who also witnessed the Partition and presents an opportunity for me to pursue story collection for The 1947 Partition Archive."
Fakhra #Chasingmemories:
"My formal interest in Partition histories started during my master's dissertation on cross-cultural analysis of women's literary narratives in 2007. At that time, oral histories of the 1947 Partition were absent in mainstream popular culture or social media.
Having documented hundreds of stories from diverse South Asian geographies, and being an active part of the organizing team for Voices of Partition seminars in Lahore, Karachi and Sukkur, The 1947 Partition Archive has made a tremendous impact in bringing the unheard voices of Partition from narrow domestic spaces to the reading public consciousness at large. I feel now is the best opportunity to be #ChasingMemories with the dynamic South Asian individuals who have made my journey worthwhile, and to do my part to help fund raise for The Archive in meeting its goal of 10,000 stories.
Gujranwala, where I live, is a city still reeling from the effects of Partition: unplanned urbanization, rapid population growth, and internal displacement of refugees settled in small villages and towns, with a lot many unheard stories waiting to be recorded. The Archive's oral history method promotes critical inquiry & gives freedom to interact and empathize with the Partition witnesses without any bias or judgement.
I hope to carry such methods with me into the classrooms of middle school students of history and geography, in the very near future."
To learn more about The 1947 Partition Archive's mission and core values, visit our website: https://www.1947partitionarchive.org/