Beyond the borders of grief

The 1947 Partition of India stands as a defining event that shaped the political geography of South Asia and intensified the rise of religious nationalism. Its legacies include mass displacement, communal violence and the long-term politicization of religious and ethnic identities, which continue to fuel regional conflict and undermine minority rights in the nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Traditional historiography has largely centred on high politics, including state formation, national leadership and constitutional negotiations, thereby marginalizing the immense human suffering, trauma and social rupture experienced by ordinary people. Since the 1990s, however, feminist oral histories and subaltern studies have reshaped Partition scholarship by foregrounding the voices of women, displaced communities and other marginalized groups excluded from official archives. Recent Partition scholarship advocates for moving beyond the prevalent focus on violence, loss, displacement and abjection, to recognize and document narratives focused on courage, resourcefulness, fortitude and resilience, love, companionship, sharing and hope. This special issue responds to that scholarly shift by highlighting underexplored narratives that illuminate hope, agency and progressive trajectories among communities such as Sindhi, Sikh, Bengali and Bihari migrants. It aims to present the less traversed, other half of the subcontinent’s Partition history by exploring themes of love, resilience and cross-border syncretism. Integrating literary, visual, oral and digital methodologies, the contributors examine the intergenerational transmission of Partition memories. The special issue explores how families reconstruct shattered lives and how alternative archives, ranging from tattoos and short stories to digital platforms and films, dismantle monolithic, state-driven histories. These essays reveal the complex afterlives of Partition and demonstrate that its memory remains central not only to political identity but also to everyday acts of compassion and community-building. By foregrounding the “other half” of Partition history, this issue seeks to resist hegemonic narratives and contribute to a more just, plural and human-centred understanding of South Asia’s past and present.