UN.DIVIDED IDENTITIES: Lesser-known stories of The Partition

Introduction to Un.Divided Identities

The 1947 Partition of India is considered to be the largest forced migration in human history. It displaced approximately 14 million people, creating an unprecedented refugee crisis. The repercussions of which can still be felt. In this project, we study the event as a base to explore identity, migration, belonging, conflict and conflict resolution in building empathy.

This project began with collecting stories from Southern India, has now gradually expanded to include lesser-known stories of migration from across South Asia and the UK, and is further exploring ways in which we can preserve oral histories. Creating an education tool that teachers and educators can use as a learning resource about Modern India, also forms one of the many phases of this project.

Online Learning Module for Bangalore Schools

ReReeti has designed a three-part series of workshops for middle and high school students, highlighting people’s stories and exploring Bangalore’s context and response as a city. Through these sessions, students get the opportunity to explore the lives of those who were impacted by the Partition, understand the timeline and events leading up to it, as well as inquire into questions of nationality and identity, and look at some of the peace-building efforts between India and Pakistan.

This is an ongoing initiative where the modules can be customised to suit each school’s need. Please reach out to bhanu@rereeti.org if you would like to bring these sessions to your school.

Workshops for Young Adults

ReReeti Foundation, in partnership with the British Council, organised a two-week long online workshop during the second half of December 2020. We partnered with Rastay 4 Change, Pakistan for this project, and brought together students from India and Pakistan to join us. This workshop was funded by the grant awarded to ReReeti Foundation by the British Council under the program, ‘Heritage Grants to Engage Young People in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh’. University students worked towards exploring, navigating, and reflecting on ideas of heritage, identity, and belonging, and their links to concepts like nationality, climate emergency, and social justice. In the workshop, we used material culture as an exploratory tool to enable the students to dig deeper into these ideas.

Connected Histories: Sindhi Colony and The Partition of India

With the support of India Foundation for the Arts, under the Project 560 Grant, we worked on a 35 minute documentary, capturing stories and memories of people living in Bangalore’s Sindhi Colony. Post the partition, the influx of Sindhis in Bangalore, led to the creation and expansion of this neighbourhood.

The film explores the history of the Sindhi Colony, memories of the residents, and the notions of home.

Watch the film here.

Immersive Virtual Exhibition

In partnership with the British Council and Glasgow Museums under their OSCH initiative, this Un.Divided Identities exhibition works towards engaging young people in India and the UK. This immersive and interactive online experience captures the mass migration and personal stories of the Partition of India in a unique way.

The exhibition is a choice-based experience that uses representative characters with stories of migration. It employs a decision based, branched narrative. The audience navigates through difficult choices on behalf of the characters, effectively increasing their involvement with the story. The visual and sonic landscape is subdued and literal to reflect an appropriate mood. Moments of higher tension or emotional emphasis shine through with subtle use of colour and precisely synchronised sound effects.

The exhibition can also be shared and used as an education tool by schools and teachers in 4 countries – the UK, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

View the digital exhibition here.

Retihaas | Learning Resource

Retihaas is a Learning Resource to provide tools for students and teachers to make the learning of history engaging and immersive. Through this platform, we aim is to make history relevant, relatable and reachable. Retihaas holds all the research that ReReeti has conducted, collated and curated on a number of historical subjects over the years, foremost amongst them being India’s contribution in WW1 with a focus on Bangalore and the 1947 Partition of the Indian subcontinent. It also includes the research done for Un.Divided Identities. Retihaas is a growing platform where further research on other historical subjects of South Asian relevance will continue to be added.

Visit the Retihaas site here.

Workshops for Students Across Borders

In the current phase of this project, ReReeti will be conducting workshops with schools across India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Through the subject of Partition, the workshops will discuss and highlight themes of migration, belonging and identity. The objectives of the workshop will be to gain insight into the 1947 Partition through personal stories of people across the three countries, to use the exhibition to reflect on how the politics of this history impacted ordinary people, and to facilitate situational learning through the virtual exhibition.

Register for the workshop here.

Photo Gallery

Testimonials

Maleah Mehta

Student, Vidyashilp Academy

It was an interesting session that helped me build a foundation about the history of Pakistan and India. Before the session, I wasn't aware of how many families migrated to Bangalore. I learnt how the common people were affected the most as it all happened without knowing what they wanted.

Madhusree Dutta Majumdar

Lead Educator, Vidyashilp Academy

The Partition as we know from the conventional history textbooks found a new meaning and dimension through the in-depth research and analysis, engaging activities and reflective narratives that kept us all enthralled for 3 weeks. Like eager learners, we waited every week to be enlightened about some interesting facets of the historical event which was presented with the use of several teaching aids, keeping the students' attention beyond the session duration was in itself a remarkable feat. Kudos to ReReeti for creating moments by reliving history and making it meaningful for the future.

Zeha

Student, National College of Arts, Rawalpindi

My favourite session of the workshop was when we were discussing the tangible objects to keep in our museum because it described the personality of each and every student in a very different way and it brought a sense of a unique individuality among us.

Pari Nirmal

Student, Anant National University, Ahmedabad

I was surprised by the perspective the workshop took to talk about the story of the Partition. They did not talk about events or the facts surrounding the Partition. They talked about the feelings, and the stories, and the emotions of the people who were migrating from India to Pakistan or from Pakistan to India. I think it brought the story of the Partition much closer to heart.