The Poetics of Borderlands: Reflections on Oral Folk Poetry from Assam’s Barak Valley during Bangladesh Liberation War
In 1971, the civil war in the Pakistani state and consequent genocide in present Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan) led to a great influx of refugees who were desperately crossing the porous borderlands of the eastern states of India. Despite the abject living conditions in the saturated refugee c...
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| Materiálatiipa: | Artihkal |
| Giella: | English |
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The International Academic Forum
2023-08-01
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| Ráidu: | IAFOR Journal of Arts & Humanities |
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| Liŋkkat: | https://iafor.org/journal/iafor-journal-of-arts-and-humanities/volume-10-issue-1/article-9/ |
| _version_ | 1827814929513578496 |
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| author | Sushrita Acharjee |
| author_facet | Sushrita Acharjee |
| author_sort | Sushrita Acharjee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In 1971, the civil war in the Pakistani state and consequent genocide in present Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan) led to a great influx of refugees who were desperately crossing the porous borderlands of the eastern states of India. Despite the abject living conditions in the saturated refugee camps and the stringent regimentation of the youth camps and muktijoddhā (Liberation Warrior) training sectors in West Bengal, Tripura and Assam borderlands, the space inhabited by the refugees was charged with powerful national imaginaries laced with an eclectic blend of emotions – resistance, hope, nostalgia, desire, aspiration. Drawing on ethnographic and anthropological research, the essay aims to explore various folk forms of poetry which emerged out of these refugee camps and guerrilla army training sectors during the war, such as kabigān (a form of lyrical oral poetry where the poet spontaneously composes verses to be performed at a public gathering) or hāture kabitā (poems to be read aloud in the middle of a hāt or marketplace) written and performed by refugees from Assam’s Barak Valley in North-East India, and later collected by Bangladeshi historian Shahid Quader Chowdhury. Besides problematising aesthetic practices and their relationship to the idea of border-crossing, refugeehood and national identities, to what extent do these poems – loka kabitā or oral folk poetry, open up a discursive space where shared cultures, histories and memories play a momentous role in political mobilisation and in the creation of a radical alterity within the “national” culture and history? To what extent do these aesthetic registers succeed in combating the irrepresentability of violence, injustice and trauma? These are primarily the questions that this essay aims to ask and resolve. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:52:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1f2fb4f934f442cb8a1d1ca51134c2a4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2187-0616 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:52:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | The International Academic Forum |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IAFOR Journal of Arts & Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-1f2fb4f934f442cb8a1d1ca51134c2a42023-09-19T02:57:23ZengThe International Academic ForumIAFOR Journal of Arts & Humanities2187-06162023-08-0110112113310.22492/ijah.10.1.09The Poetics of Borderlands: Reflections on Oral Folk Poetry from Assam’s Barak Valley during Bangladesh Liberation WarSushrita Acharjee0Adamas University, IndiaIn 1971, the civil war in the Pakistani state and consequent genocide in present Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan) led to a great influx of refugees who were desperately crossing the porous borderlands of the eastern states of India. Despite the abject living conditions in the saturated refugee camps and the stringent regimentation of the youth camps and muktijoddhā (Liberation Warrior) training sectors in West Bengal, Tripura and Assam borderlands, the space inhabited by the refugees was charged with powerful national imaginaries laced with an eclectic blend of emotions – resistance, hope, nostalgia, desire, aspiration. Drawing on ethnographic and anthropological research, the essay aims to explore various folk forms of poetry which emerged out of these refugee camps and guerrilla army training sectors during the war, such as kabigān (a form of lyrical oral poetry where the poet spontaneously composes verses to be performed at a public gathering) or hāture kabitā (poems to be read aloud in the middle of a hāt or marketplace) written and performed by refugees from Assam’s Barak Valley in North-East India, and later collected by Bangladeshi historian Shahid Quader Chowdhury. Besides problematising aesthetic practices and their relationship to the idea of border-crossing, refugeehood and national identities, to what extent do these poems – loka kabitā or oral folk poetry, open up a discursive space where shared cultures, histories and memories play a momentous role in political mobilisation and in the creation of a radical alterity within the “national” culture and history? To what extent do these aesthetic registers succeed in combating the irrepresentability of violence, injustice and trauma? These are primarily the questions that this essay aims to ask and resolve. https://iafor.org/journal/iafor-journal-of-arts-and-humanities/volume-10-issue-1/article-9/bangladesh liberation warbarak valleyborderlandsfolk poetrykabigānrefugee poets |
| spellingShingle | Sushrita Acharjee The Poetics of Borderlands: Reflections on Oral Folk Poetry from Assam’s Barak Valley during Bangladesh Liberation War IAFOR Journal of Arts & Humanities bangladesh liberation war barak valley borderlands folk poetry kabigān refugee poets |
| title | The Poetics of Borderlands: Reflections on Oral Folk Poetry from Assam’s Barak Valley during Bangladesh Liberation War |
| title_full | The Poetics of Borderlands: Reflections on Oral Folk Poetry from Assam’s Barak Valley during Bangladesh Liberation War |
| title_fullStr | The Poetics of Borderlands: Reflections on Oral Folk Poetry from Assam’s Barak Valley during Bangladesh Liberation War |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Poetics of Borderlands: Reflections on Oral Folk Poetry from Assam’s Barak Valley during Bangladesh Liberation War |
| title_short | The Poetics of Borderlands: Reflections on Oral Folk Poetry from Assam’s Barak Valley during Bangladesh Liberation War |
| title_sort | poetics of borderlands reflections on oral folk poetry from assam s barak valley during bangladesh liberation war |
| topic | bangladesh liberation war barak valley borderlands folk poetry kabigān refugee poets |
| url | https://iafor.org/journal/iafor-journal-of-arts-and-humanities/volume-10-issue-1/article-9/ |
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