The 1984 Anti-Sikh Violence: Narration and Trauma in Language and Literature

This book presents a comprehensive theoretical study of fictional and non-fictional narratives of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence in India.

It contributes to the expanding field of trauma and memory studies in literature through an interdisciplinary approach. The volume builds on perspectives from the fields of neurobiology, sociology, psychology, and literary theory to offer an integrative and fresh approach to reading and locating trauma in narratives. Going beyond a simple reading of silence, the author discusses themes which encompass othering of the Sikh body; visual, echoic, olfactory memories; somatic expressions of trauma; experiences of women, instances of rape and sexual atrocities; children as young witnesses and intergenerational trauma, to understand questions of agency and politics of remembering.

Incisive and invigorating, this pioneering book is a must read for students of memory and trauma studies, Sikh studies, South Asian literature, gender studies, English studies, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, psychology, exclusion studies, and political sociology.