Why read The Bengal Borderland?

Book cover of The Bengal Borderland: Beyond State and Nation in South Asia

Book description

'The Bengal Borderland' constitutes the epicentre of the partition of British India. Yet while the forging of international borders between India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma (the 'Bengal Borderland') has been a core theme in Partition studies, these crucial borderlands have, remarkably, been largely ignored by historians.

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Asian history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Bengal Borderland as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Sayeed Ferdous

Author

Willem van Schendel is one of those first few names who are the authority on Bengal Borderland. Schendel's interest in the Bengal Borderland and Bangladesh has been persistent for decades.

This particular volume is significant because the author focused on the complex and intertwined relationship between border-making in the region and the historical perpetuation of 1947. The book helps one to see how the Partition, far from being an event from the past, has yet been unfolding in the lands and lives of people living there. I consider it to be an intervention of both Partition studies and Borderland studies.

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From Sayeed's list on The best books on South Asian history and culture that draw upon the ordinary lives and unheard perspectives.