The Bengal Borderland

Beyond State and Nation in South Asia

By (author) Willem van Schendel

Publication date:

01 April 2004

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

234x155mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781843311447

'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.

Figures, Plates, Tables; Abbreviations; Acknowledgements; 1. Studying Borderlands, 2. Partition Studies; 3. Radcliffe's Fateful Line; 4. A Patchwork Border; 5. Security the Territory; 6. Defiance and Accommodation; 7. The Flow of Goods; 8. Narratives of Border Crossing; 9. Migrants, Fences and Deportation; 10. Rebels and Bandits; 11. 'Rifle Raj' and the Killer Border; 12. Nation and Borderland; 13. Conclusion: Beyond State and Nation; Appendix, References, Index

'Drawing extensively on the borderlanders' own vocies and experiences, and with many photographs, it paints a wonderfully rich and evocative portrait of more than half a century of Bengal borderlife…. The author has added a border study of enormous significance, and one of which border scholars everywhere should sit up and take note.' —Hastings Donnan, School of History and Anthropology, Queen's University Belfast