In Search of Humanity after War and Violence: Survivorsâ and Perpetratorsâ Narratives of the 1971 War of Bangladesh

Yasmin Saikia

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Chapter 27 In Search of Humanity after War and Violence: Survivorsâ and Perpetratorsâ Narratives of the 1971 War of Bangladesh

In: Handbook of Global Oral History

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Yasmin Saikia

Yasmin Saikia
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 627â650

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004737181_029

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Abstract

The 1971 War of Bangladesh is layered in multiple levels of silence. In Bangladesh, narratives of liberation from Pakistan dominate; in Pakistan, the war violence is unexplored; while India, the third partner in the war, recounts stories of defeating and breaking up Pakistan without accounting for the losses people suffered over nine months of the war. The official narratives in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh do not represent the peopleâs experiences and memories of the war.

Using the method of oral history, I probed the traumatic memories of perpetrators and survivors of the 1971 war that are hidden. These narratives, told in great secrecy, make evident the violence, but they also reveal a more significant issue â the loss of shared humanity in the war, which they now struggle to regain. The knowledge of humanity or insÄniyat that perpetrators and survivors emphasize offers the possibility of transcendence in South Asia. In this chapter, I highlight survivorsâ and perpetratorsâ victimhood, subjectivity, agency, and human transformation for developing a humanistic approach to account for the violent past. South Asia today is torn apart by the rising culture of hatred across religious and national boundaries. InsÄniyat is the antidote for a sustainable human future.

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Handbook of Global Oral History

Series:Â Handbooks of Literary and Cultural Studies, Volume: 3

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004737181

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 11 Oct 2025

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Chapter 27 In Search of Humanity after War and Violence: Survivorsâ and Perpetratorsâ Narratives of the 1971 War of Bangladesh

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Chapter 27 In Search of Humanity after War and Violence: Survivorsâ and Perpetratorsâ Narratives of the 1971 War of Bangladesh