Materializing the Memory: The Shawl in Partition Narratives

Abstract

History, displacement and relocation, mapping the border (both literal and metaphorical), home, memory, trauma, and women’s suffering have been the staple of partition scholarship. Moving away from these familiar discourses on the partition, this article seeks to study the shawl as an important subject in partition narratives. Partition narratives—whether fiction or memoir—abound in numerous references to the shawl: phulkari, pashmina, Kashmiri, etc. The shawl occurs as a motif in a number of narratives to symbolize protection obviously. But a deeper probe reveals that its meaning is complex and shifting: the shawl variously represents an inheritance, an alienation from the world outside, an object associated with the inner world of the owner, a keeper of secret and intimate memories, a vessel of maternal warmth and cold shroud, and a “commodity” in the sense of Appadurai. The ramifications of each of these meanings, nevertheless, keep on changing. This article intends to explore the changing contours of meaning around the shawl in selected partition narratives, while employing the theoretical formulations of Heidegger, Appadurai and others. It argues that the shawl as a commodity is culturally and politically inflected and has a “career,” “biography,” and “social life” of its own in partition narratives.

Keywords:

• Material memory
• thing theory
• shawl
• the partition of India
• partition literature

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The term “phulkari” refers to Punjabi traditional embroidery. Phulkari, which translates to “flowery craft,” refers to both floral themes and geometrical shapes in addition to flowers. Punjabi women masterfully manipulate the darn stitch to produce countless attractive and intriguing motifs and patterns. Bagh is one of the many traditional varieties of Phulkari (Bagh, Chope, Tilpatra, Neelal, Subhar, Sainchi, and Ghungat bagh). When compared to other kinds of phulkari, where only a portion of the fabric is exposed, a bagh is distinguished by having embroidery that covers the entire garment and hides the base fabric and mostly prepared for special occasions like wedding.