ABSTRACT
In 2017, in India and elsewhere, the 70 years since Partition were marked in many and various ways. Aanchal Malhotra’s book Remnants of a Separation is a study of material memory about Partition and looks at which objects travelled across borders in bags, suitcases, pockets and hidden under clothes as their owners were forced to leave not only their house but also most of their belongings behind. There are several factors that make the Partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 a definitive act. Partition has served as material for a significant amount of research in the areas of politics, sociology, anthropology, psychology and feminism, which have been classified thematically under the domain of Partition Studies. The legacy of Partition was also covered in some detail: from geopolitical legacies to more personal accounts of lost relatives and sometimes, more cheerily, of friendships that had managed to survive divides of all kinds.
