Honouring the Lost Voices of Partition

7th October 2024

A groundbreaking project from Northumbria University sheds light on the memories of older South Asian migrant women in the UK, who were young girls during or shortly after the traumatic events of the Partition of India and Pakistan 1947.

Led by Northumbria academic Dr. Nafhesa Ali in partnership with the Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL), “The Lost Voices of Partition” was a collaborative project using creative methods such as mood boards, poetry, and storytelling. The result was a powerful short-film animation by Animator Stacy Bias, which has already received 14 international film festival screenings 2023/24.

Despite the historical recognition of how women's bodies were weaponised during Partition, there remains a significant gap in research capturing the personal experiences of these women, particularly from those who lived through it as children. With many of these women now elderly, this project urgently contributes new empirical data to the field, addressing decades of silence and trauma.

Dr Ali said: “The project’s approach is deeply inter-generational, exploring the silencing of trauma across generations, creating a platform for shared healing and understanding. To see the film gain numerous international film festival screenings is deeply gratifying, and I hope as many people as possible can view it over the coming months.”