Memories of the partition and the formation of identities

Abstract

The story of the Partition serves as the origin story of the modern Indian sub continent and continues to be relevant in the context of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Communal differences among the citizens of these three nation states continue to cause conflicts even though historically, culturally and geographically there exists substantial common grounds. This paper highlights the biographies of certain members of Bangladesh’s affluent upper middle class living in Dhaka. Their biographies and their answers to questions about identity have then been linked to show that identity is the result of personal history, aspirations and state categorization. Special attention has been paid to anthropological theories which have been used to further gain clarity regarding these complicated issues.