1971: A Peoples History from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India

The year 1971 exists everywhere in Bangladeshon its roads, in sculptures, in its museums and oral history projects, in its curriculum, in peoples homes and their stories, and in political discourse. It marks the birth of the nation, its liberation. More than 1000 miles away, in Pakistan too, 1971 marks a watershed moment, its memories sitting uncomfortably in public imagination. It is remembered as the Fall of Dacca, the dismemberment of Pakistan or the third IndoPak war. In India, 1971 represents something elsethe story of humanitarian intervention, of triumph and valour that paved the way for Indias rise as a military power, the beginning of its journey to becoming a regional superpower.Navigating the widely varied terrain that is 1971 across Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, Anam Zakaria sifts through three distinct state narratives, and studies the institutionalization of the memory of the year and its events. Through a personal journey, she juxtaposes state narratives with peoples history on the ground, bringing forth the nuanced experiences of those who lived through the war. Using intergenerational interviews, textbook analyses, visits to schools and travels to museums and sites commemorating 1971, Zakaria explores the ways in which the year is remembered and forgotten across countries, generations and communities.