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This dissertation intervenes in the fields of South Asian Masculinity Studies, Affect Studies, Critical Disability Studies, Feminist Cultural Studies, and Trauma as well as Memory Studies. The focus of this project is on the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, a nine-month long war between East Pakistan and West Pakistan, which started on 26 March 1971 and ended on 16 December 1971 with Bangladesh, former East Pakistan, emerging as an independent nation. I concentrate on East Pakistani/Bangladeshi muktijoddhas (freedom fighters) who fought in the war, and birangonas (survivors of sexual violence) who were abducted by military officials and their collaborators. Drawing on political speeches, parliamentary debates, press statements, and governmental news reports, I examine how these sources create a narrative of the manly muktijoddha who demonstrates his masculinity through exhibiting courage and disavowing his pain. I further analyze memoirs by freedom fighters who complicate this image of the courageous muktijoddha through recollecting moments of pain and fear during combat. Significant to my analysis are also survivor testimonies of gender, physical, and sexual violence of wartime women in East Pakistan/Bangladesh, which oppose a more singular nationalist rhetoric of the 1971 war that celebrates the male muktijoddha while marginalizing women’s experiences. I delve into how birangona testimonies narrate the women’s trauma of sexual violence and of witnessing their daughters’ abuse by wartime soldiers. In analyzing women’s stories, I highlight the importance of listening to the voices of birangona-mas (survivors who are also mothers), and thereby question the nationalist mythologizing of the muktijoddha’s mother who sends her son to war. In exploring the muktijoddha, the muktijoddha’s mother, and the birangona/birangona-ma, I argue that there are multiple alternative readings of the war that are suppressed by nationalist discourse, which warrant recognition within Liberation War and South Asian history. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / My dissertation focuses on the Bangladesh Liberation War that took place between East Pakistan and West Pakistan from 26 March 1971 till 16 December 1971. This war led to the independence of Bangladesh, former East Pakistan. During the war, Bangladeshi governmental documents and nationalist speeches portrayed the East Pakistani/Bangladeshi freedom fighter or muktijoddha as an ideal masculine figure who fought against West Pakistani soldiers with courage. I analyze memoirs by freedom fighters who show how they both conform to, and disrupt the nationalist portrayal of the courageous muktijoddha. I also examine personal recollections of birangonas (women survivors of sexual violence) who speak of their trauma, reveal narratives of their daughter’s abuse by soldiers and their collaborators, and provide a reading of the wartime woman that challenges the nation’s vested interest in the ideal male muktijoddha. Overall, my project encourages people to rethink the Liberation War from the perspectives of wartime men and women survivors who have witnessed violence and mutilation firsthand.

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This thesis explores the working lives of British Born South Asian Ethnic Minorities (BB SAEMs), critiquing the homogenous identities ascribed to them in previous research. Its methodology is life-story interviews analysed using Nvivo. This identified four hybrid categories emerging from two cultures. I fitted myself neatly into just one. However the reflexive analysis required in good qualitative research led me to realise that I fitted into not one, but all four categories, and into others not yet recognised. At this point, my thesis had to take a new turn. An auto-ethnographic, moment-by-moment study led to an ‘unhybrid categorisation of hybridities’ acknowledging ‘fuzziness and mélange, cut ‘n’ mix, and criss and crossover’ where identity is a complex-mix, always in flux. I conclude not only with this new theory of identity formation in the working lives of BB SAEMs, but also by arguing that by imposing the requirement to categorise, research methods lead to over-simplification and misunderstanding. / University of Bradford

Dans cette thèse, j'étudie les pratiques de sorcellerie et de guérison chez les Khasi, une communauté tribale du nord-est de l'Inde. Ceux-ci forment la majorité de la population de l'état du Meghalaya. À la suite de la colonisation britannique, ils se sont principalement convertis au Christianisme. Cependant, malgré leur adoption d’un mode de vie ancrée dans la modernité et les changements socioculturels subséquents, les discours sur la sorcellerie prévalent encore aujourd'hui. Selon les Khasi, les pratiques de sorcellerie sont encore très répandues et plusieurs malédictions continuent d'affecter la population. Afin de lutter contre ce fléau, la guérison traditionnelle est fréquemment recherchée. Pour les Khasi, la preuve de l’existence de la sorcellerie se trouve dans les symptômes physiques ressentis par les victimes et par les morts mystérieuses qui se succèdent. Afin de mieux comprendre la réalité de la sorcellerie chez les Khasi, j'utilise l'approche théorique et méthodologique du tournant ontologique en anthropologie. Elle permet de jeter une lumière nouvelle sur l’étude de la sorcellerie. En effet, tout au long de l'histoire de l’anthropologie, les chercheurs ont voulu donner un sens à l'ensemble complexe de croyances et de pratiques qu'est la sorcellerie. Ils l'ont surtout expliqué comme faisant partie de la rationalité des peuples «primitifs», ou en réaction à des bouleversements sociaux. Le tournant ontologique apporte une nouvelle manière de comprendre la sorcellerie et sa réalité. Dans cette thèse, je m’appuie sur les travaux de Strathern, Descola et Viveiros De Castro, entre autres, pour montrer comment la sorcellerie peut être construite comme une réalité pour les anthropologues et les personnes qu'ils étudient. Je cherche à répondre à plusieurs questions : qu’est-ce que la sorcellerie pour les habitants du Meghalaya ? Comment la conceptualisent-ils ? Et quelle devrait être ma position d’anthropologue en matière de sorcellerie ? J'explore d'abord l'histoire sociopolitique des Khasi. Je présente un survol des événements marquants de l'histoire régionale récente, avant de souligner les particularités culturelles du groupe. Je démontre ensuite comment le paysage de guérison de Meghalaya est varié : on y retrouve des guérisseurs de religion tribale, hindoue, chrétienne et musulmane. Je donne un aperçu de leur approche respective de la sorcellerie. Je me concentre ensuite sur l'écosystème du mal à Meghalaya, expliquant et détaillant les principales malédictions affectant les Khasi et leurs voisins. Je présente la quête thérapeutique d’une famille qui a souffert de nombreuses pertes et tragédies et qui a cherché de l’aide auprès de guérisseurs de diverses confessions et ethnicités. À la suite de cette analyse, je définis la sorcellerie et la guérison selon le monde ontologique Khasi. Ces définitions émergent de la construction de la personne chez les Khasi et de la relation qu'ils entretiennent avec des entités non humaines. Dans leur monde ontologique, il est possible d'être maudit par des entités maléfiques et de guérir grâce aux dieux et déesses. Cette réalité est construite et validée à la fois par les guérisseurs et leurs patients. Ils partagent pour la plupart une compréhension commune du monde et du réel. / In this thesis, I study the practices of witchcraft among the Khasi, a tribal people of northeast India. The Khasi form most of the population of the state of Meghalaya. Following British colonization, they mainly converted to Christianity. However, despite adopting a modern lifestyle and the major socio-cultural changes it has brought, discourse on witchcraft still prevails today. According to the Khasi, witchcraft practices are widespread, and several curses continue to affect the population. In order to fight this scourge, traditional healing is frequently sought by the Khasi. From their point of view, proof of the existence of witchcraft can be found in the physical symptoms experienced by the victims and the mysterious deaths of many people. To better understand reality of witchcraft for the Khasi, I use the theoretical and methodological approach of the ontological shift in anthropology, because it sheds new light on the study of witchcraft. Indeed, throughout the history of anthropology, researchers have sought to make sense of the complex set of practices that is witchcraft. They have explained it as part of the rationality of "primitive" peoples, or as a reaction to social woes. The ontological turn offers a new way of understanding witchcraft and its reality. In this thesis, I draw upon the work of Strathern, Descola, and Viveiros De Castro, among others, to show how witchcraft can be constructed as a reality for both anthropologists and the people they study. I seek to answer several questions: what is witchcraft for the inhabitants of Meghalaya? How do they conceptualize it? How is this conception of witchcraft defined and redefined in a contemporary world? And finally, what should be my position as an anthropologist in regard to witchcraft? To answer these questions, I first explore the socio-political history of the Khasi, presenting a survey of the significant events in recent regional history, before highlighting the cultural particularities of the group. I then demonstrate how the healing landscape of Meghalaya is varied. I divide these practices according to the religion of the healers: tribal, Hindu, Christian and Muslim, and give an overview of their respective approach to witchcraft. I then focus on the ecosystem of evil in Meghalaya, explaining and detailing the major curses affecting the Khasi and their neighbours. I present the therapeutic quest of a family that had suffered many losses and sought out healers of different faiths and ethnicities. Considering this analysis, I define witchcraft and healing as it appears in the Khasi ontological world and show how they emerge from the construction of personhood among the Khasi, and from the relationship they have with non-human entities. The Khasi build an ontological world where it is possible to be cursed by evil entities and to be healed by gods and goddesses. This reality is constructed and validated by both healers and their patients. For the most part, they share a common understanding of the world and of what is real.