ABSTRACT
With the Second World War behind them, the British left India in haste, resulting in a process of decolonisation that was ambivalent for the natives. Amid mass migration, the partition of India led to colonial-era objects becoming an integral part of post-colonial homes, particularly in cantonments or the homes of locals employed under the Raj. Through an analysis of establishing personal archives, collecting oral histories, and restoring objects, this research explores the notion of decolonisation by analysing the evolving generational memories of families closely associated with the Raj. Decolonisation in objects is explored through an analysis of material culture and oral histories associated with a pair of rattan recliners, a silver glass, a letter opener, a wall tapestry, two desks, and a knitting needle case. The research highlights that decolonisation has been an inherently ambivalent and often contradictory endeavour for many and brings forth the idea of the archive as a site for there-interpretation of material culture.
