| This thesis project examines the development of India and Pakistan's national identities after British colonialism through the lens of body politics and trauma theory. It addresses the need to deal with traumatic memories from the Partition of 1947, the historical event that marks the inception of the two countries, and colonial history in the Indian subcontinent. Chapter 1 examines the Partition of 1947 and the ways in which India and Pakistan employ bodies--people's bodies, the "body" of the subcontinent region, and the "body" of work on the Partition history--to develop distinct national identities after British administration abdicated its authority over the subcontinent region. Chapter 2 analyzes Arundhati Roy's novel The God of Small Things (1997) to discuss the state's handling of unwanted bodies within its border, the tension between history and memory in the national narrative, and the impact of suppressed memories on individuals and the nation. |
