Abstract
The refugee, in India's Partition history, appears as an enigmatic construct - part pitiful, part heroic, though mostly shorn of agency - representing the surface of the human tragedy of Partition. Yet this archetype masks the undercurrent of social distinctions that produced hierarchies of post-colonial citizenship within the mass of refugees. The core principle of the official resettlement policy was self-rehabilitation, that is, the ability to become a productive citizen of the new nation state without state intervention. Thus, the onus of performing a successful transition - from refugee to citizen - lay on the resourcefulness of the refugees rather than the state. This article traces the differing historical trajectories followed by 'state-dependent' and 'self-reliant' refugees in the making of modern citizenry in post-colonial India.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Cultural and Social History |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Pages (from-to) | 429-446 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| ISSN | 1478-0038 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2009 |
Keywords
- Citizens
- India
- Partition
- Post-colonial state
- Refugees
- Social class
