Arts and Social Sciences, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)
DSpace
UBCO
Jahan, Nujhat
Master of Arts - MA
University of British Columbia
Sexual assault was one of the many violent crimes that took place in Bangladesh during the Liberation War of 1971 which resulted in the nation’s independence. The Pakistani army targeted millions of Bengali women and used sexual violence as a weapon of war against them, aiming to abolish traditional culture and destroy their dignity. In post-independence Bangladesh, these victims were given the title birangana, which translates into English as brave women. Despite numerous witnesses, the instances of women subjected to sexual violence were not accurately documented. The national narrative of the event remains male-centric. This gap, a form of historical silence, has influenced the lives of biranganas, making it difficult to reveal their personal history in post-independence Bangladesh. This master’s research utilizes an archival method, specifically examining historical photographs, newspaper cuttings, and published oral testimonies to investigate the memories and experiences of these women in post-independence Bangladesh. This thesis argues that the initiatives taken to restore them in society are layered with silences, including the unrecognized sacrifices they made, the economic injustices they faced, and their constant struggles for official recognition. This thesis relates these layers of silence that continue to exist in society to various forms of violence that often go beyond observable forms. Drawing upon the scholarship of renowned historian Michel-Rolph Trouillot, it explores the phenomenon of historical silence while also relying on the insights of Pierre Bourdieu and Johan Galtung regarding the concept of violence. In order to understand these layered silences against biranganas in Bangladesh today, I argue that one needs to understand the multiple forms of violence that they have encountered every day and how the events of 1971 shape their lives.
Violence in Silence: The Plight of Birangana in Post-independence Bangladesh by Nujhat Jahan BSS, University of Dhaka, 2017 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) (Power, Conflict and Ideas) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) May 2024 © Nujhat Jahan, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled: Violence in Silence: The Plight of Birangana in Post-independence Bangladesh submitted by Nujhat Jahan in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts Dr. Margaret Carlyle, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisor Dr. Deana Simonetto, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Co-Supervisor Dr. Jennifer Gustar, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Sakiru Adebayo, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Emily Murphy, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies University Examiner iii Abstract Sexual assault was one of the many violent crimes that took place in Bangladesh during the Liberation War of 1971 which resulted in the nation’s independence. The Pakistani army targeted millions of Bengali women and used sexual violence as a weapon of war against them, aiming to abolish traditional culture and destroy their dignity. In post-independence Bangladesh, these victims were given the title birangana, which translates into English as brave women. Despite numerous witnesses, the instances of women subjected to sexual violence were not accurately documented. The national narrative of the event remains male-centric. This gap, a form of historical silence, has influenced the lives of biranganas, making it difficult to reveal their personal history in post-independence Bangladesh. This master’s research utilizes an archival method, specifically examining historical photographs, newspaper cuttings, and published oral testimonies to investigate the memories and experiences of these women in post-independence Bangladesh. This thesis argues that the initiatives taken to restore them in society are layered with silences, including the unrecognized sacrifices they made, the economic injustices they faced, and their constant struggles for official recognition. This thesis relates these layers of silence that continue to exist in society to various forms of violence that often go beyond observable forms. Drawing upon the scholarship of renowned historian Michel-Rolph Trouillot, it explores the phenomenon of historical silence while also relying on the insights of Pierre Bourdieu and Johan Galtung regarding the concept of violence. In order to understand these layered silences against biranganas in Bangladesh today, I argue that one needs to understand the multiple forms of violence that they have encountered every day and how the events of 1971 shape their lives. iv Lay Summary Biranganas, which translates to “war heroines,” are the women who were subjected to sexual violence by the Pakistani army in the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh. Although the history of the 1971 war has been documented from different perspectives, stories of biranganas remain limited and inadequate. The research aims to explore the memories and experiences of biranganas in post-independence Bangladesh, highlighting how their sufferings are often overlooked and deeply embedded in historical silence. v Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Lay Summary ................................................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................ viii Trigger Warning............................................................................................................................. ix Introduction ....................................................................................................................................1 Context of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh .........................................................10 1971 War Narratives in Contemporary Bangladesh .........................................................16 Description of Each Chapter ..............................................................................................21 Chapter One: Theory and Method ............................................................................................25 Collective Memory and Silence .........................................................................................26 Historical Narratives, Power Dynamics and Reconstruction of the Past ...........................30 Oral History and Silence ....................................................................................................33 Violence in the Archive .....................................................................................................37 Sexual Violence in War and Memory ................................................................................41 Silence as a form of Symbolic and Structural Violence ....................................................47 Method and Data Collection ..............................................................................................51 Archival field work: ...........................................................................................................52 Chapter Two: Photographic Memory of the Sexual Violence ................................................56 The Iconic Hair Photograph ..............................................................................................61 Victims lay like Corpses ...................................................................................................69 War babies of 1971 ...........................................................................................................73 Abortion and Adoption of War Babies ..............................................................................78 Chapter Three: Silences in Archival Newspapers ...................................................................85 First Layer: 1970s – Masculine Representation of the War .............................................90 Second Layer: 1990s – Rediscovering Silence ..................................................................98 Third Layer: 2010s – The Official Recognition and Current Economic Injustice ...........101 Chapter Four: Silences in Published Oral Testimonies ........................................................107 vi Patterns of Silence in Published Oral Testimonies .........................................................111 Intersubjectivity Leading to Silence ................................................................................ 118 Distorted Memories of the 1971 War ...............................................................................120 Missing Primary Transcripts and Undocumented Narratives ..........................................125 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................127 Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................131 List of Archival Newspapers ............................................................................................131 Secondary Sources ...........................................................................................................132 vii List of Figures Figure 1. The iconic hair photograph by Naibuddin Ahmed, Liberation War Museum, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Gallery 4. Used With Permission ............................................................................. 62 Figure 2. Women discovered in bunker by Naibuddin Ahmed, muktijuddho e-archive (https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/). Used with Permission............................................ 69 Figure 3. Victim of Sexual Violence, muktijuddho e-archive (https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/). Used With Permission ........................................... 71 Figure 4. Victim of Sexual Violence, muktijuddho e-archive (https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/). Used With Permission ........................................... 72 Figure 5. War children, left with the Missionaries of Charity-run Shishu Bhavan (Children's Home) in Dhaka in late July, 1972, “Ekatturer Juddhoshishu: Obidito Itihash”, © Mustafa Chowdhury, Used under Fair Dealing Exception ......................................................................... 74 Figure 6. A War Baby named Rajib adopted by a Canadian lady, “Ekatturer Juddhoshishu: Obidito Itihash”, © Mustafa Chowdhury. Used under Fair Dealing Exception ........................... 81 viii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people, without whom I would not have been able to complete this research, and without whom I would not have made it through my masters degree! First and foremost, I extend my sincere gratitude to my thesis supervisors, Dr. Margaret Carlyle and Dr. Deana Simonetto, for their unwavering guidance, valuable insights, and constant support throughout the research process. Words cannot express my gratitude to Margaret and Deana for instilling confidence in me to continue my career goals. Furthermore, without the great knowledge and experience supplied by my thesis committee, Dr. Jennifer Gustar and Dr. Sakiru Adebayo, this endeavour would not have been possible. Additionally, I would like to thank Ain-O-Shalish Kendra and the Liberation War Museum for granting me access to their archives and for the continued assistance with source materials. My heartfelt appreciation goes to University of British Columbia Okanagan for providing an environment conducive to research and learning. The facilities and resources that were made available to me were essential to the completion of my research. Last but not least, I am deeply indebted to my family for their continued support. I would like to thank my parents and my two elder sisters, whose profound love, encouragement, and sacrifices have been the driving force behind my academic pursuits. Thank you for being my pillars of strength. ix “Trigger Warning” This thesis contains graphic photographs of sexual violence and combat. Please engage in self-care as you read this thesis. 1 Introduction “I had to experience the tragedy that 1971 brought, not just for myself but for the entire country. I felt unwanted in the community after Bangladesh gained independence because I had experienced severe physical and mental harassment (by Pakistani army). I've received harsh criticism. I experienced horrific abuse. I work with and sculpt the bark of trees as they signify to me the abandoned, like I was after 1971—abandoned, ridiculed, humiliated and treated with contempt.” -Ferdousi Priyabhashini in “Narir Kotha (Women & War)”1 In 1999, the renowned Bangladeshi sculptor Ferdousi Priyabhashini became one of the first women to publicly declare that the Pakistani army had sexually assaulted her during the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.2 In order to promote gender justice for all sexually assaulted victims of the 1971 War including herself, Priyabhashini shared her painful experiences in numerous national and international public venues.3 In 2000, she took part in the Tokyo Tribunal and provided a brief testimony describing her experience as a victim.4 In a culture where sexual assault victims were advised to keep their experiences private out of respect for the country and out of fear for their own safety, Priyabhashini’s decision to come forward was a brave one and a remarkable action. What the perpetrators had done to women like her was seen as a collective humiliation. Before passing away in 2018, Ferdousi Priyabhashini made a great impact on public awareness by sharing her traumatic experiences and shedding light on the similar experiences endured by numerous women that had been ignored for a long time. 1 Tareque Masud and Catherine Masud, “Narir Kotha (Women & War),” filmed 2000, YouTube, 25:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsazbwBGS0M 2 Nayanika Mookherjee, “Lessons of consent and critique from Ferdousi Priyabhashini,” The Daily Star, March 15, 2018, https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/tribute/lessons-consent-and-critique-ferdousi-priyabhashini-1548142 3 Bina D’Costa and Sara Hossain, “Redress for Sexual Violence Before the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh: Lessons from History, and Hopes for the Future,” Criminal Law Forum 21, no. 2 (2010): 342. 4 Shaheen Akhter, Suraiya Begum, Hameeda Hossein, Sultana Kamal and Meghna Guhathakurta, Narir Ekattor O Juddhoporoborti Koththo Kahini (Dhaka: Ain-O-Salish-Kendro, 2001), 135. 2 Like Priyabhashini, millions of girls and women were targeted by the Pakistani army in the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.5 Given the religious, social, and cultural context, the Pakistani army conducted a widespread campaign of sexual violence on Bengali women with the aim of abolishing Bengali traditional culture by destroying the dignity of its women. During the Liberation War, there was also a strategy to completely destroy the minority groups, especially Hindus. The perpetrators deliberately targeted the women who would become victims of sexual assault in 1971, often selecting them based on their ethnicity or religion. The Pakistani military specifically targeted women during the war due to their affiliation with the enemy’s community.6 Sexual violence during 1971 was implemented as an intentional military strategy, either through the establishment of sexual assault camps or through random attacks on women’s houses and surrounding areas. The Pakistani military effectively transformed schools and factories into centres where sexual violence took place.7 Women were tortured and subjected to unimaginable brutality. Pakistani armies and local collaborators abducted many women, held them captive in those camps, and assaulted them repeatedly during the nine months of the war. Their hair was chopped off, they were tied down and repeatedly tortured, forced to take off their sari8 and wear rags or men’s shirts. These women were even denied food, leaving many of them to starve to death.9 Sexual violence was also employed in such a way that it disconnected women’s ties to their history. Mostly, a desire for power and control was the driving force. The act of sexually assaulting women during the war exemplified the ability of the Pakistani army to exert 5 Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1975), 80–81. 6 Imtiaz Ahmed, Recognizing the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide: An Appeal for Rendering Justice (Dhaka: Nymphea Publication, 2022), 26. 7 Imtiaz Ahmed, Recognizing the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide, 28. 8 Sari is a style of clothing worn traditionally by women from South Asia that consists of a length of silk or cotton that has been intricately draped around the body. 9 Yasmin Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971 (NC: Duke University Press, 2011), 49. 3 dominance and cause severe damage to the vulnerable, leaving it extremely challenging for women to recover a sense of belonging after the war.10 In postwar Bangladesh, these victims had to live in a society where their collective memory was shaped by silence—their inability to publicly speak out about their experiences for fear of reprisal. Their personal history became a well-guarded secret that could not be revealed.11 I am referring to the concept of secrecy as a form of historical silence that influences the way sexual violence in 1971 is collectively remembered. Unfortunately, the instances of women being subjected to sexual violence were not accurately documented despite the presence of numerous witnesses. Moreover, most of them refrained from revealing their traumatic experiences due to societal stigmas and familial obstacles. Following independence, significant attempts were undertaken by the government, social organizations, and individuals to reintegrate these women into society and ensure that they were remembered as its valued members. The primary and most important initiative was honouring them with the title “birangana.” Implemented in 1972, right after the war’s conclusion, there were two programs aimed at rehabilitating the victims and facilitating the adoption of “war babies.” Furthermore, in 1992, the “Peoples’ Tribunal for the Elimination of War Criminals and Collaborators” conducted an unofficial public hearing, during which women who had survived sexual violence in 1971 provided testimonies for the first time.12 The Awami League government, which came into power after independence, implemented measures to reintegrate biranganas into society. The first ever initiative to acknowledge these women was giving them the title “birangana,” which translates into English 10 Saikia, Women, war and the making of Bangladesh, 49. 11 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 52. 12 D’Costa and Hossain, “Redress,” 333. 4 as “war heroines,” “the brave ones,” or “the blameless ones.” Immediately after achieving victory on December 16th, 1971, the Bangladesh government honoured them with the title in an attempt to acknowledge their sacrifices.13 On December 22, 1971, A. H. M. Kamruzzamman, the home minister of the interim government of Bangladesh, announced that all women who have endured severe torture by the occupying Pakistani army in the previous nine months will be acknowledged as biranganas of the Bangladesh liberation movement.14 The term gained popularity as government speeches, newspaper articles and rehabilitation projects started using it frequently. The word “birangana” is a combination of the Bengali words “bir” and “ongona,” which literally means “brave women.” Although terms like “mohila muktijoddha” (women freedom fighters) and “shaheed” (martyrs) were also popularized to describe women’s contribution to the war, the term birangana specifically referred to those women who were sexually assaulted during the 1971 war.15 The term was further popularized by the newly elected Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Sheikh Mujib hoped that, through this recognition, a space would be created for women to claim their contribution in the war.16 However, the word “birangana” is also a powerful example of wordplay that highlights the historical marginalization of women. When replaced with “a,” it becomes “barangana,” referring to a beautiful woman associated with the marketplace or brothel. This shift in meaning highlights the challenges faced by biranganas in escaping societal perception in post-independence Bangladesh.17 13 Nayanika Mookherjee, “The raped woman as a horrifc sublime and the Bangladesh war of 1971”, Journal of material culture 20, no. 4 (2015): 381. 14 Nayanika Mookherjee, The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories and the Bangladesh War of 1971 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2015), 130. 15 Mookherjee, The Spectral Wound, 133–134. 16 Mookherjee, The Spectral Wound, 130–131. 17 Fayeza Hasanat, The Voices of War Heroines: Sexual Violence, Testimony, and the Bangladesh Liberation War (Boston, Brill, 2022), 10. 5 However, in postwar Bangladesh, biranganas were dehumanized and treated as mere objects by their countrymen. They were shunned due to societal stigma. They faced challenges and barriers in their efforts to rebuild their lives as liberated citizens. These women were socially ostracized and faced many forms of injustice in a newly liberated nation. Their responses were marked by a mixture of silence, resilience, trauma and abandonment. For a long period, their stories remained untold and unrecognized in the official historiography of the war. Here, official historiography represents public and classroom discussion, print media, publications and literary and cultural initiatives. Moreover, aside from a few recent works that will be examined in this thesis, there has been a greater silence around this topic than the war itself due to the lack of any scholarly work specifically addressing these women from 1971 to 1991. It was only during the 1990s that some human rights organizations and scholars attempted to document biranganas. Bangladeshi feminists, journalists, and human rights activists began recording the oral histories of war heroines, especially those who belonged to poor and middle-class families. Nilima Ibrahim in her 1994–95 pioneering work Ami Birangana Bolchi (translated into English as This is the War Heroine Speaking) published the oral testimonies of seven biranganas for the first time. The purpose of this documentation was to gather evidence that could be used in the trial of Bengali collaborators who assisted the Pakistani army in the war and committed sexual violence. Consequently, newspapers in the 1990s often featured photographs and stories about war heroines.18 In 1992 and during 1994–95, some victims began to share their stories, breaking their long silence. In the years that followed, more and more women came forward to give testimony. 18 Nayanika Mookherjee, “History and the Birangona,” The Daily Star, June 21, 2021, https://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/news/history-and-the-birangona-2114681 6 The resurgence of accounts detailing women’s experiences of wartime sexual violence occurred within a specific context.19 This context included the reintegration of collaborators, the absence of trials for collaborators of the Pakistani army involved in the killing of intellectuals during the war, the increase in fatwas,20 the international portrayal of the Liberation War as a civil war within the framework of Cold War politics and human rights discourse, the necessity of transmitting the history of the war to younger generations, and consequently, the failure to recognize its genocidal origins.21 In an effort to honour the biranganas’ contributions, the Bangladeshi government introduced a number of initiatives in the last 15 years, one of which was the establishment of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), a domestic court established under the 2009 amendment to the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1974. The primary aim of the Tribunal was to prosecute individuals accountable for war crimes. It was formed to provide justice to those who were harmed by the conflict. There have been extensive debates, conflicts, and disputes over the ICT trials and their reliability. Notwithstanding the various challenges, this is considered a crucial measure in addressing past injustices suffered by the biranganas in 1971.22 After forty years of independence, in the 2010s, Bangladesh finally made an effort to officially recognize these women. After women’s rights activists called for biranganas to be declared freedom fighters, the Parliament of Bangladesh approved a proposal to upgrade the status of birangana to freedom fighters. In October 2015, the Bangladesh government for the 19 Mookherjee, “History and the Birangona.” 20 A fatwa is a formal decree or interpretation of Islamic law provided by a certified legal scholar, known as a mufti, in the context of Islam. Fatwas are typically issued as a response to inquiries posed by people or Islamic courts. Although fatwas are regarded as authoritative, they are typically not regarded as legally binding rulings. 21 Mookherjee, “History and the Birangona.” 22 D’Costa and Hossain, “Redress,” 331. 7 first time declared 41 biranganas freedom fighters.23 As of the end of 2020, there were a total of 400 biranganas who were officially recognized as freedom fighters. In 2021, 16 more women were added to the list at the 73rd meeting of the National Freedom Fighter Council, taking the total number to 416.24 Due to the lack of historical research, the stories of biranganas in post-independence Bangladesh are incomplete and fragmented. Despite all the efforts undertaken to recognize them, the nation’s memory of the war remains skewed, with records of women’s subjugation being scant and the official history remaining male-centric. In Yasmin Saikia’s words, the disengagement with women’s trauma in the existing official history creates a “yawning gap” that makes 1971 almost impossible to understand.25 The very fact of women’s involvement in the war is also compromised in collective memory. The existing official historiography focuses on external-level events and actions, such as the tactics used by freedom fighters and enemies, combat operations, leaders and campaigns.26 These elements dominate the memory and history of the war. In this way, awareness of the violent past is forgotten and lost. The forgotten memories belong to these women who were not directly involved in the conflict, but whose bodies were used as a site on which power was inscribed.27 The history of Bangladesh and 1971 has been shaped by many different political regimes over the years. Changes have been made to historiography based on differing ideas and influences from religious and military authorities. The reintegration of several pro-Pakistani 23 Syed Samiul Basher Anik, “41 Birangonas get Freedom Fighter status,” Dhaka Tribune, October 13, 2015, http://archive.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2015/oct/13/41-birangonas-get-freedom-fighter-status 24 Tribune Desk, “Government recognizes 16 more Biranganas as freedom fighters,” Dhaka Tribune, June 12, 2021, https://archive.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/government-affairs/2021/06/12/government-recognizes-16-more-biranganas-as-freedom-fighters 25 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 4–5. 26 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 5. 27 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 4–5. 8 political figures who were directly involved in the atrocities carried out against Bengalis in 1971 created two competing historical narratives in Bangladesh. The official narrative and the actual experience of the people have become increasingly distinct as a result.28 Moreover, politicians in post-independence Bangladesh deliberately misrepresented the memory of sexual violence against Bengali women to provoke hatred towards Pakistan and local collaborators. In this political atmosphere, Bengali men were branded as heroic warriors and local collaborators as traitors. Thus, a detailed insight into the atrocities committed against women in 1971 was missing from the national political memory. Men once more used the image of the victimized woman to incite retaliation.29 As a result, these women were exposed to further violence through silence. In many ways, this thesis asks the central question of how historical silence is created in Bangladesh regarding the plight of biranganas and why it persists in various forms of violence. I argue that the very initiatives taken to restore biranganas in society are themselves layered with silences: silences of those unrecognized sacrifices these women made, the economic injustices they had to face in their everyday lives, their constant struggle for official recognition as freedom fighters by the state, and many other forms of silencing associated with the challenges of archiving documents and oral testimonies. I argue that all these actions and inactions created a vacuum in the formation of collective memory of the war in present day Bangladesh and contributed to various forms of misrecognized violence that were experienced by these women and which occurred routinely in familiar spaces. In the process, I aim to develop an archival approach to understanding the knowledge gap that ignores the creation of the violence that takes 28 Bina D’Costa, “Birangona: Bearing Witness in War and ‘Peace’,” in Of The Nation Born: The Bangladesh Papers, ed. Hameeda Hossain and Amena Mohsin (New Delhi: Zubaan Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 2016), 74. 29 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 75–76. 9 place in the everyday lives of these victims and eventually shapes the collective memory of the war in Bangladesh. The concept of historical silence is not just about the absence of information or the fictionalization of the past in postwar Bangladesh. As supported by my research, historical silence is a deliberate and systematic process where knowledge about events like sexual violence in 1971 is manipulated, rewritten, and intertwined to create a disjointed collective memory. I draw on the theoretical concept of historical silence by pioneering historian Michel-Rolph Trouillot to argue that these silences do not just happen on their own, but are created purposefully in historical documents and can be traced by analyzing these documents. This thesis follows the headway made by many scholars who have followed in Trouillot’s footsteps, but it is particularly influenced by his claim that inequitable power systems in historical narratives reinforce “bundles of silence.” These silences are not only present in academic histories but also in primary sources, archival materials, and in the ways that societies remember the past, recount stories from the past, and determine the historical significance of events.30 I use three types of archival materials to locate different forms of violence in these women’s lives outside of the event of sexual violence that took place in 1971. First, I examine historical photographs of the victims in order to identify symbolic meanings associated with their representation that contribute to indirect forms of violence. Second, I tackle newspaper cuttings from three significant decades and present how silence is structured in news media. And third, I draw on published oral testimonies by Nilima Ibrahim and Ain-O-Salish Kendra31 to uncover 30 Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 1995), 27. 31 Ain-O-Salish-Kendra (ASK) is a national legal aid and human rights organization in Bangladesh that provides legal and social support to the disempowered (particularly women), unprivileged children and workers. 10 ingrained silences about war heroines that often go unnoticed. I argue that such ingrained silence in oral testimonies reformulates archival violence. I analyze the notion that the historical silence about biranganas is a process that promotes violence and can be influenced by the absence or misrepresentation of archival documents. Furthermore, I assert that the collective memory of the war is shaped by the way popular literary, electronic, and visual institutions, and the state representation of these women, demonstrating an omission of key details about them. Context of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh The political, cultural, and socioeconomic forces that developed over decades, giving rise to a climax of complaints and demands for autonomy and independence, are profoundly rooted in the setting of Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War. The partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 was a momentous event that had profound effects on this region’s political landscape. While India emerged as a secular state, Pakistan chose to overtly emphasize its religious nationalism.32 Before 1971, Bangladesh was an occupied territory of Pakistan named East Pakistan. Pakistan was divided into two unequal halves, namely West Pakistan and East Pakistan, separated by culture and religion. West Pakistan was dominated by Muslim Punjabis, whereas East Pakistan was populated by a diverse Muslim-Hindu Bengali community.33 The start of the conflict was caused by several important factors on which I elaborate next. As East Pakistan had both Hindu minorities and Muslim Bengalis, the western region looked down upon their eastern neighbours by calling the area “a low-lying land of low-lying people” who contaminated the region with their non-Muslim values.34 The notion of a Muslim 32 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 34. 33 Nitin Pai, “The 1971 East Pakistan Genocide - A Realist Perspective,” International Crimes Strategy Forum, (2008): 1. 34 Pai, “The 1971 East Pakistan Genocide,” 1. 11 homeland played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Dominion of Pakistan, acting as the primary basis for national identity. However, conflicts rooted in ethnicity rather than religion complicated the early stages of establishing the new nation of Pakistan.35 The two separate entities were not only geographically different but also displayed cultural and linguistic differences. The Pakistani authorities held a conviction that Hindu culture served as an influence on the Bengali Muslims of East Pakistan, who exhibited a significant emphasis on literature, music, and dance. They deemed the Islamic rituals of Bengalis as “inferior and impure.”36 The larger fight for autonomy saw a key forerunner in the Language Movement of 1952.37 The Urdu-speaking elite primarily identified themselves as Muslims rather than Bengalis and followed an aristocratic cultural and religious model influenced by Arabic and North Indian traditions.38 The West Pakistani authorities imposed the decision to make Urdu the national language. The majority Bengali population refused to accept it. This resistance sparked riots and bloodshed in the 1950s.39 Bengali-speaking East Pakistanis soon realized that they had been oppressed as a colony of the richer West Pakistan. The sense of superiority expressed by West Pakistan fostered the implementation of certain discriminatory policies by the Pakistani government, leading to an internal conflict. One example is the discrimination in resource sharing that generated resentment among Bengalis. During the decades between 1950 and 1960, East Pakistan maintained a favourable trade balance 35 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 35. 36 Mookherjee, The Spectral Wound, 33. 37 In the old East Bengal, which was renamed East Pakistan in 1952, the Language Movement of 1952 was a political movement. The movement started in 1948, came to a head with the killings of several students from Dhaka on February 21, 1952, and culminated with Bangla being declared one of Pakistan's official languages. The central leaders and the Urdu-speaking intellectuals of Pakistan declared that only Urdu would be the state language of Pakistan, allowing for its use in official matters; the continuation of its use as a medium of instruction; its use in media, currency, and stamps; and the maintenance of its writing in the Bengali script. This was done despite Bengalis being the overwhelming majority in East Pakistan. 38 Mookherjee, The Spectral Wound, 33. 39 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 35. 12 with foreign countries. Although responsible for almost 60% of Pakistan’s foreign revenue, East Pakistan constituted just under 30% of its total imports. East Pakistan consistently faced a trade imbalance with West Pakistan. It served as a captive market for the industries of West Pakistan, leading to a notable gap in per capita income between the two regions. Between 1959 and 1960, the mean income of individuals residing in West Pakistan surpassed that of their counterparts in the eastern region by a margin of 32%. Nevertheless, after a decade, this disparity had escalated to 61%.40 Accordingly, the capital city remained located in West Pakistan, functioning as the central hub for government spending and administrative activities. East Pakistanis were also excluded from participating in decision-making processes. Although the East comprised 56% of Pakistan’s population, Bengalis were not adequately represented in the army.41 The Awami League emerged as the main opposition party in East Pakistan that mobilized against the oppression by West Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led the Awami League and proposed a six-point formula in 1966 that became a pivotal document in the struggle against exploitation by the West. It was intended to grant autonomy and self-determination to East Pakistan. The central government led by General Ayub Khan suppressed the six-point demand movement and arrested Sheikh Mujib in a conspiracy case. Soon, the people of East Pakistan demanded Sheikh Mujib’s release and mobilized against the Ayub regime. As a consequence, Sheikh Mujib was released in early 1969. A large-scale movement forced Ayub Khan’s resignation and General Yahya Khan took over. Yahya promised to transfer power to elected representatives after holding a general election, which took place on December 7, 1970. This 40 Shireen Hasan Osmany, Bangladeshi Nationalism: History of Dialectics and Dimensions (Dhaka: University Press Limited, 1992), 114–17. 41 Bina D’Costa, Nationbuilding, Gender and War Crimes in South Asia (New York: Routledge, 2011), 90. 13 period marked a significant shift in power dynamics in Pakistan, with the military regime eventually giving way to a more democratic political setting.42 In the 1970 general election, the Awami League under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman achieved a significant victory by securing 160 out of 162 seats in East Pakistan. On the other hand, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), emerged victorious in West Pakistan.43 The result of the election indicated that the Awami League would form the new government and Sheikh Mujib would become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. But the Pakistani military junta denied transferring power to Sheikh Mujib, as he was a Bengali. The dispute around power distribution and the decision to appoint Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the prime minister intensified tensions, finally leading to military intervention against the Bengali majority in East Pakistan.44 On March 7, 1971, Sheikh Mujib called upon the people to commence a noncooperation campaign as a strategy to attain the national liberation of East Pakistan from the Dominion of Pakistan.45 The political tension between the two regions reached its peak and a war broke out. However, the violence was not limited to clashes between men in armed organizations. Women, in particular, were disproportionately affected by the brutality, which led to many unarmed, non-resisting individuals of all ages being killed and maimed who had caused no harm to their assailants.46 The Pakistani army committed a mass killing of innocent people on the dark of night on March 25, 1971 popularly known as “Operation Searchlight.” They targeted women and used sexual violence as a war strategy to dehumanize the whole population. It was not a unique 42 D’Costa, Nationbuilding, 90–92. 43 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 38. 44 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 38. 45 Mookherjee, The Spectral Wound, 34. 46 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 4. 14 strategy because sexual violence has been a longstanding feature of war, including in recent wars in Kosovo (1998–99), Bosnia (1992–95), Croatia (1991–95), and Rwanda (1994). Moreover, this strategy was already endemic to South Asia, such as during the Partition (1947), when violence was inflicted upon women in two ways. First of all, men from different religions sexually assaulted women in an attempt to degrade the men of the women’s own religious group. Additionally, women faced violence from their own families in order to protect the community’s honour, often resulting in tragic outcomes such as suicide.47 However, the reasons why Pakistan used sexual violence as a war instrument in 1971 differ from these other examples.48 The Pakistani government ordered the army to impregnate Muslim and Hindu women from East Pakistan to turn the country into a “pure Pakistan” with a Muslim population. Here, we can relate this strategy to Claudia Card’s contention that sexual violence is a tool of genetic imperialism through forcible impregnation.49 The sexual violence imposed on Bengali women during the war was a strategy undertaken by Pakistani soldiers under order from their superiors to improve the genes of the Bengali Muslim people and populate Bangladesh with “pure” Muslims. Historically, colonial forces considered Bengali Muslims to be “Hinduized,” “half Muslims,” and “impure,” as evidenced in documents from the eighteenth century.50 Card further explains that genetic dominance has a cross-cultural symbolic meaning among men in patriarchal societies, where sexual control is a sign of dominance.51 This 47 Arunima Dey, “Violence against Women During the Partition of India: Interpreting Women and their Bodies in the Context of Ethnic Genocide,” Spanish Journal of English Studies, no. 37 (May 2017): 104. 48 Saikia, Women, war, and the making of Bangladesh, 51. 49 Claudia Card, “Rape as a Weapon of War,” Hypatia 11, no. 4 (Autumn 1996): 7. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3810388 50 Mookherjee, The Spectral Wound, 163. 51 Card, “Rape as a Weapon of War,” 11. 15 dominance extends beyond just women. Especially in times of conflict, it extends most significantly to other men who are perceived as the protectors of women. Women in patriarchal societies are therefore very easy targets in war. Sexual violence removes the most basic control over one’s personal bodily interactions with others. This control decides who is in charge. Such connections, however forced, may have an impact on the identities of survivors in terms of their future in patriarchal societies.52 In the context of 1971, Bengali women were the easy targets and subjugating women sexually on a mass scale demonstrated the power of the all-male Pakistani army over the eastern population. The outcome was devastating and traumatic. Women were taken away from their homes to established camps where they were kept for days and tortured multiple times. The Pakistani army committed atrocities directed at women with a view to humiliating their enemies both psychologically and morally. Women were used as sex slaves, their heads were shaved, and their bodies lied naked in the horror of those camps after they were assaulted.53 In her 1975 classic book Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, Susan Brownmiller revealed that there was evidence that some women were sexually abused nearly 80 times in one night by the Pakistani army.54 Although the accurate number of female victims remains a subject of ongoing debate, it is estimated that approximately 200,000 to 400,000 women were victims of sexual violence during the nine months of war in 1971.55 52 Card, “Rape as a Weapon of War,” 11. 53 Steffi Deb, “The Liberation War of Bangladesh: Women and the Alternative Narratives of the War,” Journal of International Women’s Studies 22, no. 4 (2021): 82. 54 Brownmiller, Against Our Will, 80. 55 Brownmiller, Against Our Will, 80–81. 16 1971 War Narratives in Contemporary Bangladesh The current historiography of biranganas in Bangladesh is a developing field of multidisciplinary research. However, there are still many unresolved questions regarding the organization and representation of violence in these women’s lives in postwar Bangladesh, which are manifested through their silence. In addition to giving them a “voice,” the trajectory of popular scholarship aims to ensure justice by holding those responsible for the sexual violence during the war accountable and by revealing the details of the violence biranganas endured in 1971 and the years that followed. Scholars like Nilima Ibrahim (Ami Birangana Bolchi, 1994–95), Bina D’Costa (Nationbuilding: Gender and War Crimes in South Asia, 2011), Yasmin Saikia (Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971, 2011), and Nayanika Mookherjee (The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories, and the Bangladesh War of 1971, 2015) have conducted some of the most important research on this topic that delves into the historical background, social consequences, and long-term impacts on the lives of these women. In various works, there has been a consistent emphasis on the significant role of women. However, despite efforts to bring attention to sexual violence as a means of highlighting the atrocities committed by the Pakistani army in 1971, this focus failed to make the women more visible. Instead, highlighting the victimization of these women served as a crucial method to raise awareness about the brutalities of the conflict and attract international support and aid for the war-torn economy.56 According to prominent women’s-rights activist Hameeda Hossain, there has been a lack of representation of women’s experiences in the national narrative. The 56 D’Costa, Nationbuilding, 111. 17 graphic depictions of sexual violence were utilized in such a way that they represented women only as helpless beings.57 The dominant history mainly includes stories of educated women from the middle or upper classes, particularly those who were political or social activists like Motia Chowdhury and Rokeya Rahman Kabir. However, the majority of women, who did not fit into these categories, have been overlooked and have quietly faded into the background of history.58 A major challenge in constructing a meaningful historiography is the lack of relevant sources about biranganas. The narratives around these women have been influenced by the absence of personal testimonies. Additionally, the limited number of primary documents that are available to historians, authors, and organizations is almost entirely from the viewpoint of the men as freedom fighters or other witnesses. Due to these limitations, the historiography of biranganas has not been able to portray their overall plight. In present day Bangladesh, sources related to these women are preserved in only a few institutions. Bangladesh’s existing archival structure is inadequate in terms of records related to the 1971 War, especially with regards to biranganas. No other government, other than the Awami League—the first one after independence—took any action to archive materials relating to 1971, which are spread throughout the world. The National Archive of Bangladesh has been compared by historian Muntasir Mamoon and deemed a “Directionless Organization” for its failure to store important documents.59 Only a small number of national dailies from 1971—just sixteen in total—are kept in the National Archive, which is the largest archive in Bangladesh. It is important to note that materials related to biranganas are therefore difficult to locate in any 57 Akhtar, Begum, Hossein, Kamal and Guhathakurata, Narir Ekattor, 10–12. 58 D’Costa, Nationbuilding, 111. 59 Partha Sankar Saha, “Muktijuddher dolil bolte kichu doinik potrika,” Prothom Alo, December 17, 2013, Ain-O-Salish Kendra archive, BAHO8027, Dhaka. 18 archive due to limited preservation.60 The Liberation War Museum situated in Agargaon, Dhaka specializes in archiving war-related photographs, documents, books, and other materials. It has also built a gallery specially dedicated to biranganas that displays various historical photographs, wartime graffiti, and letters. Besides, Ain-Salish-Kendra situated in Lalmatia, Dhaka has also archived many important documents related to them. The first work that collected the primary accounts of war heroines was Nilima Ibrahim’s attempt to interview seven biranganas starting in 1992 for her book Ami Birangana Bolchi. In her book, Ibrahim draws on oral history interviews to write the distressing and frequently unspoken tales of these women who endured great suffering throughout the war. Her goal was to give these women a voice, so they could share their struggles and experiences. Ibrahim’s work serves to eliminate the negative perception associated with female victims and acknowledge their courage in the midst of unimaginable suffering. Ibrahim discusses a crucial part of the history of the war that had been disregarded for a long time in Bangladesh. By highlighting the pain of women and the lingering effects of sexual violence on their lives, she helps to depict a more comprehensive and inclusive narrative of the Liberation War. Yasmin Saikia, Nayanika Mookherjee, and Bina D’Costa have recently attempted to unpack and publish the most well-known contemporary methods of birangana stories. In her 2011 book, Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971, Indian author Yasmin Saikia applies and combines archival research and in-depth interviews to present an alternative historical narrative and question the prevailing account of women’s history during the period of 1971. Saikia provides the reader with a comprehensive account of the struggle, 60 Partha Sankar Saha, “Muktijuddher dolil bolte kichu doinik potrika,” Prothom Alo, December 17, 2013, Ain-O-Salish Kendra archive, BAHO8027, Dhaka. 19 presenting the perspectives of common people and incorporating multiple testimonies from women who were subjected to sexual violence in the war. She is one of the first scholars active in the field today to publish testimonies from these victims and other affected women. The primary assertion she makes regarding the war heroines is that they were subjected to marginalization by the state. By highlighting the various forms of discrimination these women experienced, Saikia’s work challenges the dominant narrative that often glorifies only men and leaves out biranganas’ contribution to the war. She successfully established a system of justice for these women by utilizing their narratives and linking them to the historical context of South Asian conflicts. In her work, Bina D’Costa, another well-known historian on the subject of 1971, considers the greater political and social environment as well as the interaction between the state and war heroines. In her book Nationbuilding: Gender and War Crimes in South Asia, she prioritizes justice for these women by questioning various political attempts in postwar Bangladesh. By focusing on the current state of these women, D’Costa discusses various operations of the War Crimes Tribunal and argues that war heroines are not included in its procedures effectively. She goes further to claim that the existing transitional justice processes are flawed. D’Costa thus promotes an inclusive transitional justice approach for war heroines. She advocates for a war crimes tribunal focused on civil society and women’s organization, where these victims can seek justice by being able to share their experiences. On the other hand, Nayanika Mookherjee argues that government efforts like giving them the title birangana to honour war heroines, homogenize the experiences of these women. Although the attempt to honour them with the title birangana fosters public memory of these 20 women, they remain what she refers to as a “spectral wound” in people’s minds. By spectral wound, Mookherjee refers to the harm caused by dominant depictions of biranganas as dehumanized victims and rejection by their communities. As a result, the variety of experiences of sexual violence that biranganas have endured is obliterated. In her book titled The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories, and the Bangladesh War of 1971, Mookherjee employs a multi-sited method to thoroughly examine how the stories of war heroines are fabricated, which enabled an in-depth inquiry into the political, economic, ethical, and intricate details of sexual violence in conflict. Bina D’Costa further suggests that there are three competing narratives about 1971 that are dominant in Bangladesh.61 The first is the officially sanctioned government accounts of that era’s political history, such as how freedom fighters (indicating only men) and eminent Bengali expatriates abroad fought the great liberation movement. Secondly, the numerous works of Bengali literature, both fictional and non-fictional, that make significant contributions to our understanding of the suffering of individuals in 1971. Thirdly, there are the experiences of survivors as shown by their narratives or by the secrets kept by families who suffered during the war, particularly those whose daughters and women were slaughtered, sexually abused, or sent to military camps to become pregnant. Together, these three narratives have developed dominant perceptions about what women and the general populace were like throughout the Liberation War.62 Although many works have been conducted on biranganas, to understand them from social, political and cultural points of view, many aspects, such as their everyday struggles to 61 D’Costa, Nationbuilding, 104. 62 D’Costa, Nationbuilding, 104. 21 reintegrate into society, personal losses due to social stigmatization, and the unavailability of their primary accounts create many gaps in understanding their experiences. A notable gap exists in addressing the ongoing injustices faced by biranganas in Bangladesh, with a lack of literature focusing on the continued hardships they endure. As a result, the nation remembers these women only from the perspective of their struggles during the war and ignores knowledge of their continued present-day sacrifices. With each passing day, biranganas and their stories are dying out. The collective memory of the war does not fully recognize the brutality these survivors went through. By collective memory, I refer to the act of remembering and depicting the historical event of 1971 and the sexual violence inflicted upon women.63 New generations who did not experience the war or the consequences of the war are not fully aware of the silence regarding biranganas. This knowledge gap arises from the nation’s inability to present a comprehensive and substantial narrative of the war to its citizens. Consequently, this has limited the development of a diverse and in-depth understanding of the war. I connect this limited development to the existing pattern of historical silence in Bangladeshi society, which exhibits itself through various forms of violence endured by biranganas in their everyday lives. Description of Each Chapter This thesis is organized around four chapters. In Chapter One, I describe the theory and methods used in this thesis, drawing on the theoretical concepts of historical silence, archival violence, and collective memory to establish the argument that there are a multiplicity of silences 63 Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi and Chana Teeger, “Unpacking the Unspoken: Silence in Collective Memory and Forgetting,” Social Forces 88, no. 3 (March 2010): 1103, https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.0.0290 22 regarding the state of the war heroines in contemporary Bangladesh. These concepts are important to uncover and problematize in order to better understand the role of archival documents in both empowering and re-silencing survivors of wartime sexual violence. This chapter provides a theoretical and historical overview of what “silence” is, how it works and impacts women in conflicts, and how different forms of silence can be found in historical documents like photographs, oral testimonies, and newspaper articles, the three kinds of primary sources that I will explore in subsequent chapters. This chapter also explains the role of collective memory in historical silence, by investigating how nations prohibit forming collective ideas about the past by erasing certain events (unintentionally or deliberately) and muting people related to them. It argues that memory formation is an act of remembering and forgetting. The collective memory of the war in Bangladesh thus remembers these women as mere victims, erasing or silencing in the process some crucial historical information about them. I then describe the methodology used in this thesis: how the data has been collected and analyzed. This chapter is thus important for understanding the basic concepts used in my analysis of historical silences regarding war heroines. It helps to demonstrate how the nation remembers them today, while also forgetting vital elements that shape the collective memory of the war. In Chapter Two, I provide an analysis of the photographs used to document these women’s lives. One of the modalities crucial for the act of remembering is photography. This chapter is based on the photographs that I collected from archives in Bangladesh, including the famous “hair photograph” by Naibuddin Ahmed, photographs of victims, and war babies. All of these photographs carry symbolic meanings, and this chapter explains the construction of the image of biranganas as a symbol of shame and silence through visual representation, which 23 elements of the patriarchal culture of Bangladesh perpetuate. This chapter also dives into the topic of war babies and their constant absence from historical documents, suggesting a knowledge gap regarding this issue. By connecting the symbolic meanings of photographs to theories regarding types of violence, this chapter argues that religious factors as well as social stigmas around sexual violence played a major role in removing a large part of the historical record about the war. In turn, this removal creates a distorted memory of the past that looks incomplete without the proper inclusion of the victim’s identity, their struggles and war babies who were later aborted or adopted by foreigners. Chapter Three goes through a detailed examination of archival newspapers from three decades: the 1970s, 1990s, and 2010s. These three decades marked the emergence of birangana-related issues in mainstream Bangladeshi newspapers, which also established how the past is interpreted by the media. This chapter argues that, in this process of interpretation, newspapers directly intervene in the historical process of restoring the status of biranganas. Some key findings suggest that, over the years, different patterns of silencing can be found in newspaper articles related to these women. Especially how only male freedom fighters have been glorified, creating a masculine representation of the war in the minds of people. In the 1990s, newspapers shifted their focus to bringing out personal stories of war heroines. Such positive journalism was able to break years of silence, inspiring many victims from rural areas to speak up about their victimization. During the 2010s, newspapers reported about the injustice victims experience in getting their official recognition due to the unequal power structure. All of these patterns of silencing and attempts to un-silence the buried wartime experiences of biranganas, I argue, can be understood using Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s theoretical explanation of “layers of silencing.” In 24 addition to that, these newspaper articles perform the role of the social agent that shapes the way people understand and remember the biranganas as they are shared and received by the readers. Chapter Four examines the published oral testimonies of war heroines in the books Ami Birangana Bolchi by Nilima Ibrahim and Narir Ekattor O Juddho Poroborti Kottho Kahini by Ain-O-Salish-Kendra. Though these testimonies are considered essential for providing records of women’s oral accounts for the first time in Bangladesh, they contain traces of silence, including a silencing of those facts that were never historicized, untold individual memories, and the disadvantages of oral history that initiate larger silence. This chapter looks closely at the intimate relationship between the victim and their loved ones and how silence prevails in their daily life decisions. Many women faced second victimization when well-meaning, but ineffective, rehabilitation programs by the government caused social ostracization and public shaming. Moreover, silence was persistent in the writers’ community, as many decided not to write about those victims because that would result in repeat victimization. This chapter also explores how intersubjectivity can shape the story being told or rewritten. In the last part of the chapter, I argue that the failure to preserve primary evidence, such as interview transcripts, in archives creates another form of silencing and results in conflicting interpretations of the stories told by the survivors leading to a confusing collective understanding. 25 Chapter One: Theory and Method Historically, the future was believed to be changeable, while the past was fixed. However, new interpretations of the past are rewriting history, highlighting the complex relationship between memory and history. There was a blurry line between history and memory prior to the development of critical historical scholarship in the 18th and 19th centuries. Historiography primarily served the purpose of preserving the recollection of dynasties, churches, and states by defending the institutions of the ruling class. The memory selection criteria were established in accordance with the highest social standing that confirmed reputation and power, and occurrences that aligned with the views and interests of the ruling class. This maintained the distinction between history and memory by enforcing a collective identity that was validated over time by a particular power structure.64 Memory relies on the societal frames that establish and retrieve recollections.65 Humans form groups based on their social frameworks, which are structures of shared interests, principles, experiences, and stories. These groups include family, neighbourhood, peers, generations, nation, and culture. Shared behaviours and interactions that establish boundaries for inclusion and exclusion form the basis of every social group. In order to be a member of a collective group, it is necessary to both share and embrace the group’s historical context, which extends beyond one’s life span. Individuals engage in the group’s historical narrative through cognitive learning and feelings of belonging. These events from the past cannot be “remembered,” but rather, they must be committed to memory.66 64 Aleida Assmann, “Transformations between History and Memory,” Social Research 75, no. 1 (2008): 56–58. 65 Lewis Coser, On Maurice Halbwachs (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 43. 66 Assmann, “Transformations,” 51–52. 26 This chapter describes the theoretical aspects of historical silence, drawing on Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s insights to explain how silence in archives is shaped by processes of remembering and forgetting events. It also discusses the importance of collective memory in reconstructing the past for communities and individuals. Through historical examples, this chapter brings attention to the connection between silence and violence, shedding light on the impact of untold narratives. Additionally, this chapter engages with the methodology I employ in this thesis by detailing how archival documents on the Liberation War of 1971 were collected and by emphasizing why these are important to locate silence. Collective Memory and Silence Maurice Halbwachs, a French sociologist, pioneered and explicitly linked the concept of memory to a collective entity, which he refers to as a group or society.67 He approaches memory from a third-person perspective and applies sociological frameworks to analyze it, drawing inspiration from the work of Emile Durkheim.68 In 1925, Halbwachs coined the term “mémoire collective” in his book Les Cadres sociaux de la mémoire. The important aspects of Halbwachs’s assumption are his identification of those “who remember” and “how” that process happens over time. Halbwachs argues that a person’s memory develops and is shaped by the social group they are part of.69 He states that all memory is dependent on the interactions among various social groupings. These groups include families, socioeconomic classes, and religious communities. The way one remembers past experiences and what exactly they remember depends on how socially connected they are to the other members of their group.70 In short, Halbwachs argues 67 Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 37–189. 68 Paul Ricoeur, Memory, History, Forgetting (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2004), 120. 69 Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 97. 70 Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 52. 27 that groups collectively rebuild their past experiences. Therefore, while individuals may have their own perspective on this group reconstruction, they do not possess an independent memory of the past.71 Collective memory is interconnected with, yet somewhat different from, individual memory, as it is bound to transmit information from one generation to another, surpassing the individual’s memory. Thus, it is meant to prevent selective forgetting, collective silence, or simply forgetting about any event that is associated with the concept of memory.72 The term “silence” is as a result complex. Certain aspects of any given experience or narrative are inevitably forgotten as we observe, classify, and then remember others. Studies of silences, omissions, and amnesia have their own subfield within collective memory studies.73 Trauma, individual, and collective conflicts sometimes break the silence and express memories. At the same time, silence can be so enduring that it effaces memory and induces forgetting. Sometimes, the story takes on a new and enriched form after staying for too long in darkness.74 Halbwachs highlights the significance of the societal framework in shaping collective memory and the act of forgetting within the realm of history. In doing so, he discusses the connection between memory and history. According to his argument, social dynamics and challenges have an impact on memory. Memory changes constantly as new social or political pressures arise in society. On the other hand, political or social forces have no influence over history. His argument suggests that forgetting can be a result of collective memory, sometimes 71 Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 67. 72 Yair Auron, The Pain of Knowledge: Holocaust and Genocide Issues in Education (New York: Routledge, 2005), 3. 73 Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott, “Collective Memory,” in The Routledge International Handbook of Interactionism, ed. Dirk vom Lehn, Natalia Ruiz-Junco, Will Gibson (London: Routledge, 2021), 270. 74 Luisa Passerini, Memory and Utopia: The Primacy of Inter-Subjectivity (New York: Routledge, 2007), 16. 28 intentionally, but not of history. He further contends that contemporary societies are unable to generate collective memories as a result of the extensive documentation and historical investigation available to them. The way the past is written is significantly different from lived experiences. It is also schematic and dissimilar to how people remember their past experiences.75 Halbwachs frequently discusses the influence of collective frames in shaping collective memory, emphasizing their role in the selection, reconstruction, and distortion of memories.76 These frames include language, time, space, and experience. Forgetting occurs when our attention is unable to concentrate on particular memories or is diverted elsewhere as these frames evolve throughout time.77 The collective frames of memories are not composed of individual memories or available structures. Instead, they are employed to (re)construct a historical narrative that fits into the dominant ideologies of contemporary society.78 Hegemony sometimes ignores memories that create differences among individuals and groups, manipulating them to preserve consistency in every phase of history. This is done to preserve agreement with the changing conditions of balance, ensuring that memory remains relevant.79 The concept of hegemony involves the acceptance of the dominant group’s interests as the norm. This acceptance results in the establishment of a specific narrative as a universal truth, marginalizing alternative perspectives or certain social groups. Thus, hegemony effectively creates a dominant reality that most individuals within a social group adopt, while undermining other viewpoints.80 As a result, certain aspects of history are silenced or distorted. 75 Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 118. 76 Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 382. 77 Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 368. 78 Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 22–23. 79 Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 382. 80 Berthold Molden, “Resistant pasts versus mnemonic hegemony: On the power relations of collective memory,” Memory Studies 9, no. 2 (2016): 126. 29 Collective forgetting, a kind of silencing, is a result of collective consciousness or deliberate acts. Any time the past is remembered, certain details are always emphasized while others are overlooked or forgotten. Even interpreting historical events and forgetting parts of them is not necessarily always an intentional act. According to Michael Schudson, “[m]emory is distortion since memory is invariably and inevitably selective. A way of seeing is a way of not seeing, a way of remembering is a way of forgetting too.”81 In this sense, memory and forgetting go hand in hand. The ability to remember a particular event frequently depends on the capacity to suppress something else. The continued existence of these moments of exclusion can have detrimental effects and frequently serve as deliberate efforts to silence specific aspects of history in order to represent others in a more effective manner, typically benefiting those who hold positions of power. Individuals in positions of power exercise the act of narrating certain memories while remaining silent about others as a means of defining the limits of what can and cannot be discussed regarding the past.82 The continuous absence of any reference to a given subject in group communications enhances the act of forgetting. Time itself may increase the likelihood of encountering silence as witnesses or victims pass away or get older. In other cases, silence does not result from forgetting, but rather, from the desire of the individuals involved to keep a certain topic private or to avoid that which they find uncomfortable to discuss.83 When people are silent, denial may play a role that includes fear, embarrassment, and trying to fit into the dominant culture through their silence.84 81 Michael Schudson, “Dynamics of distortion in collective memory,” in Memory distortion: How minds, brains, and societies reconstruct the past, ed. Daniel Schacter (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995): 348. 82 Vinitzky-Seroussi, and Teeger, “Unpacking the Unspoken,” 1107. 83 Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott, “Collective Memory,” 271. 84 Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott, “Collective Memory,” 271. 30 Historical Narratives, Power Dynamics and Reconstruction of the Past The process of reconstructing the past may intentionally or unintentionally erase certain aspects of history and groups of people, leading to potential silences in the historical narrative.85 Silencing certain groups of people can result in the misrepresentation of the past, creating a vague understanding of a particular historical event.86 This silence can be found in sources, archives, academic histories, and, more generally, in the ways that societies remember the past, narrate stories, and assign historical meaning.87 Silences within history and memory are produced and reaffirmed at many sites: through the selection of historical sources, the creation of archives, and the repositories of historical records.88 The official process of collecting historical sources accidentally removes some parts whereas some of the recorded past is intentionally erased. By doing so, history sometimes produces only a partial record of the past; however, it becomes the final product backed by the official power of the state and is memorialized. The official history must be questioned in order to un-silence the unnarrated ones.89 History is selectively portrayed, with some events compromised while others are highlighted for specific purposes, like creating a coherent picture, making a strong argument, or telling an effective story. Trouillot investigates how power dynamics affect the production of history. Power dynamics determine which historical actors and narratives are highlighted or silenced. He argues that inequalities among individuals result in unequal historical power, shaping what is included and excluded in historical records. In short, while some information is 85 Vinitzky-Seroussi, and Teeger, “Unpacking the Unspoken,” 1107. 86 Vinitzky-Seroussi and Teeger, “Unpacking the Unspoken,” 1104. 87 James Miles, “Historical silences and the enduring power of counter storytelling,” Curriculum Inquiry 49, no 3 (2019): 253. 88 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 28–35. 89 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 28–54. 31 recorded as fact, other elements are inevitably left out of historical records.90 Trouillot states, “[s]ilences are inherent in history because any single event enters history with some of its constituting parts missing. Something is always left out while something else is recorded.”91 Trouillot’s concept of historical silence goes beyond the idea that history is shaped by the victors. According to him, silence is not only the outcome of how Western authorities produce historical narratives that reinstate the dominance of certain powerful groups. Power also plays a significant role in shaping the stories we recount about the past across various contexts and periods. Power contributes to the production and interpretation of events or stories, influencing their understanding and formation even before they are articulated.92 Therefore, even in a purely scientific understanding of history, the perspectives and interests of historians remain important. Trouillot further posits that “[i]n history, power begins at the source.”93 Sources and facts are not random, rather they are important in the production of narratives. The formation of sources and facts involves the omission of certain details, leading to silence in the narrative. Similarly, the production of traces, such as physical markers or historical artifacts, dead bodies, censuses, monuments, diaries, and political boundaries, shapes the significance of historical narratives.94 Both the processes of generating sources and creating archives are important in shaping historical narratives. However, the power involved in both processes may vary.95 For instance, the process of creating archives involves the deliberate selection of producers, evidence, themes, and procedures. As a result, specific elements may be excluded or ranked differently, ensuring 90 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 48 91 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 49. 92 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 28–29. 93 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 29. 94 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 29. 95 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 52. 32 thorough selection and preservation.96 Trouillot refers to archives as institutions that systematically arrange and preserve factual information and sources, which are essential for the creation of historical statements.97 Archives are active spaces where information is processed to make it understandable in a historical context. They organize both the content and structure of historical narratives. They serve as intermediaries between sociohistorical processes and narratives, imposing limitations on the scope of debate and conveying a sense of authority. They establish guidelines for credibility and interdependence, and assist in choosing significant narratives, ensuring the authenticity of the data they gather.98 Another phase of silencing involves retrieving factual information from historical narratives. Silence persists in fact retrieval even when ‘facts’ are extensively documented in archives. It implies that despite having a comprehensive account of events, the process of remembering and retelling history is not a simple or direct procedure. The process of retrieving information involves the complex interaction between information that is visible and information that is omitted. The narrative that emerges from historical accounts may vary in terms of which events are emphasized, how frequently they are mentioned, and the perceived importance or accuracy of those events. This unevenness in the retrieval and recollection of historical facts highlights the subjective nature of historical storytelling and interpretation that facilitate silence.99 96 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 53. 97 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 52. 98 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 52. 99 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 53. 33 Survivors often carry the weight of history.100 The significance of history also lies in its inherent purpose. Historical representations through books, commercial exhibits, or public commemorations, should not be seen solely as a means of transmitting knowledge. A connection to that information must be established. Moreover, not every relationship will suffice. Authenticity is crucial to avoid creating fraudulent or morally objectionable observations.101 It is necessary to address the injustices inflicted upon past generations as they have a direct impact on future generations of victims. Further, the emphasis on historical events frequently distracts us from the current injustices that are a result of the groundwork laid by prior generations.102 Oral History and Silence Oral history is a methodology that goes beyond simply gathering ‘facts’ about experience. It also offers profound personal insights into how individuals interpret the past.103 Contemporary oral historians have gained the ability to establish questions that may not have been previously considered. Through this approach, individuals can effectively discover hidden memories and understand experiences that were previously suppressed or overlooked.104 Oral historians interpret periods of silence through the practice of attentive listening. They exhibit an ability to attentively listen to individuals in order to gather knowledge about their cultures that has not yet been adequately examined or studied. Women’s studies and subaltern studies emerged from this 100 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 149. 101 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 149. 102 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 150. 103 Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli, and other stories: form and meaning in oral history (NY: State University of New York Press, 1991), 50. 104 Alistair Thompson, “Fifty Years On: An International Perspective on Oral History,” The Journal of American History 85, no. 2 (1998): 584. 34 same impulse, as their aim is to facilitate new ways of listening to voices that had not previously been heard.105 Oral history studies frequently exhibit information gaps, which may result in moments of silence. Verne Harris, an archivist from South Africa, highlights the importance of performing gathered oral histories aloud by emphasizing its ability to enhance the text with additional meaning. This process establishes a fluid connection between the text and its social context, physical surroundings, geographical features, and cultural artifacts. He further emphasizes the risks of documenting oral histories, as this transition process may interrupt the natural flow and setting of the stories, ultimately creating a gap between the speaker and their words. Additionally, it is important to note that pauses and sighs can have significant meaning and should be taken into consideration during the process of recording interviews. It is possible that the attempt to give individuals who are silenced a voice can ironically end up contributing to the continuation of their voicelessness.106 Oral narrative can tell us how everyday identities become reformulated in various ways. In relation to violence, they provide some indications of how violent moments are enfolded into the everyday lives of people. Oral testimonies are illuminating in a way that they not only tell us what happened, but also how and why it happened, centralizing the meaning of events.107 105 Passerini, Memory and Utopia, 28. 106 Verne Harris, “Claiming Less, Delivering More: a critique of positivist formulations on archives in South Africa, Archivaria 44 (Fall 1997): 139. 107 Veena Das, “The Act of Witnessing: Violence, Poisonous knowledge, and Subjectivity,” in Violence and Subjectivity, ed. Veena Das, Arthur Kleinman, Mamphela Ramphele, and Pamela Reynolds (Bekerley: University of California Press, 2000): 205–25. 35 Women’s recollections are often interested in the contexts of daily life in which they attempt to make and maintain their homes and relationships.108 Oral accounts also alert us to how violence and violations are not only contained in time, but have effects that far exceed the original moment of violence. One example could be the African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in which women adopted many strategies for remembering past violence. Their stories bear witness to their lived experiences as well as the formulation of new forms of agency in unexpected places under the daily conditions of horror. TRC accounts reflect how apartheid violence entered the emotional and conceptual frameworks of relationships between mothers and sons, between wives and husbands, and between other women in their everyday lives. Some of these include the impact governmental terror has on changing how people and communities interact with one another. In short, it bears witness to the texture of the fragmented lived experiences of the self, family, and community.109 Conducting research on oral history and interacting with people can also present a few challenges. One of them is associated with the concept of distorted memories. Human memory is prone to error, and memories of the past can change through time. In the early 1970s, oral history research faced the criticism that memory alters through physical degradation and nostalgia in old age, by the personal bias of both the interviewer and the interviewee, and by the effect of collective and retrospective memories of the past.110 Patrick O’Farrell argued that such distortion will not lead us into history but into myth.111 108 Nthabiseng Motsemme, “The Mute Always Speak: On Women’s Silences at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” Current Sociology 52, no. 5 (June 29, 2016): 909. 109 Motsemme, “The Mute Always Speak,” 909–910. 110 Thomson, “Fifty Years On,” 584. 111 Patrick O’Farrell, “Oral History: Facts and Fiction,” Oral History Association of Australia Journal, no. 5 (1982-1983), 3–9. 36 When survivors of traumatic events share their stories, they describe feelings of helplessness and powerlessness. Their speech also conveys the sense of inferiority and embarrassment they are experiencing. In her research on Holocaust testimony and absence, Naomi Rosh White offers supporting arguments for such expression. She argues that in speech grief, anguish, shame, or joy may all be represented through silence. This idea of expressions, that is, affective or emotional expression as a form of communication, must be considered in the study of historical silence.112 In the political sphere of women’s lives, silence matters. Choosing to remain silent in the face of those who seek to undermine or silence them can be a powerful political statement in itself. Through maintaining silence, individuals can create a sense of uncertainty and confusion among their opponents, making it challenging for them to formulate a response. This strategy is especially valuable for marginalized groups, such as women, who have historically faced oppression and powerlessness.113 Silence can also manifest negatively in various ways. Political repression and the suffocating silence of sexual violations are two examples of how silence negatively manifests. Coercion, physical violence, and emotional abuse are all used in these methods of silence. Silence can occasionally be used as a defense mechanism to safeguard others, maintain secrecy, or express reluctance to discuss specific events. Sexual harassment victims who choose to remain silent as a form of self-defense by avoiding talking about upsetting experiences, facilitate 112 Naomi Rosh White, “Marking Absences: Holocaust Testimony and History,” The Oral History Association of Australia Journal, no. 16 (1994): 12–18. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.630758638456473. 113 Rodney G.S. Carter, “Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence,” Archivaria 61 (September 2006): 230. 37 silence.114 It is what Rosh White refers to as a survival tactic by individuals whose agency is being destroyed and called into doubt, as in the instance of apartheid.115 Violence in the Archive Archives are spaces of power. Archival power is represented through acts of inclusion and exclusion. Through inclusion, archives highlight historical narratives or records created by certain groups. Such highlights give power to those voices that are heard. But inclusion is only one of many components of archival power. Through the fundamental aspect of exclusion, the archive carries distortions, omissions, erasures, and silences of stories that are not told or preserved.116 In society, dominant groups exercise power and establish an unequal relationship with subordinate groups, by displaying their influence.117 Power is distributed unevenly among groups in society that include specific racial, ethnic, and religious communities, the affluent, and the educated, and can be defined by dominant gender and heterosexism. These dominant groups possess the power to generate historical records and shape them by exerting control over resources, such as information. They determine the content and structure of the archive by selecting which information will be archived.118 Through their continuous statements and funding for research, powerful groups subjugate individuals on the periphery who hold different views. This kind of silencing prevents particular groups from expressing their opinions or 114 Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli, 53. 115 White, “Marking Absences,” 14. 116 Carter, “Of Things Said and Unsaid,” 216. 117 Michel Foucault, “The Confessions of the Flesh,” in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977, ed. Colin Gordon (New York, Pantheon, 1980): 201. 118 Carter, “Of Things Said and Unsaid,” 217. 38 making remarks. Miriam Meyerhoff refers to it as “simple and perfect” silence, as the powerful control marginalized groups views through easy but effective tactics like censorship or threats.119 Archival silences occur when the materials of certain groups who are being marginalized by powerful groups are actively denied entry. If some of them speak, their speech or statements are not recognized and are denied a place in the archive due to a lack of power.120 Jacques Derrida, a prominent French philosopher, goes a step further and argues that the archive is a place of violence; that is, state power is reflected in archival decisions and archival records that go through extremely selective processes before finding a place in the archive. State power favours dominant groups. Marginalized groups in a society remain marginalized in archives because of this extremely selective procedure.121 For instance, prominent African American studies and critical theory scholar Saidiya Hartman expands the concept of archival violence, especially focusing on the ways in which the representation and documentation of Black lives are manipulated and marginalized. Hartman argues that traditional archival practices actively contribute to the suppression of marginalized people’s voices, experiences, and agency, hence sustaining violence against them. Hartman’s viewpoint on archival violence emphasizes the problematic nature of historical records as sources of trauma and exploitation. She argues that archives often preserve materials that actively contribute to the continuation of violence, especially in the context of slavery, colonialism, and other oppressive institutions. Instead of serving as impartial archives of history, 119 Miriam Meyerhoff, “Doing and Saying: Some Words on Women’s Silence,” in Language and Woman’s Place: Text and Commentaries, revised and expanded edition, ed. Mary Bucholtz (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2004): 209. 120 Carter, “Of Things Said and Unsaid,” 218. 121 Jacques Derrida and Eric Prenowitz, “Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression,” Diacritics 25, no. 2 (1995): 7. 39 these records are perceived as actively perpetuating harm by presenting the narratives of marginalized groups through the perspective of their oppressors.122 Furthermore, traditional archives overlook the intricate details of everyday experiences, emotions, and relationships inside Black communities, which reduces them to impersonal facts or oversimplified portrayals. Hartman writes: [w]e stumble upon her (Venus) in exorbitant circumstances that yield no picture of the everyday life, no pathway to her thoughts, no glimpse of the vulnerability of her face or of what looking at such a face might demand. We only know what can be extrapolated from an analysis of the ledger or borrowed from the world of her captors and masters and applied to her.123 This omission not only affects historical understandings but also reinforces structural inequalities by repeating harmful stereotypes and silencing dissenting voices that resist dominant narratives. Archival violence takes place when some groups are prioritized and included in the archive reflecting the state’s power while others are excluded and actively silenced. Archivists must make constant choices when selecting appropriate archival materials. Sometimes such decisions are made by the archivist in an unconscious way depending on factors such as limited resources, a lack of understanding, and budget constraints. Authoritative decisions like actively excluding certain voices and their records have a major impact on the archival structure and complicate the societal memory of the state.124 At the same time, the idea of a complete archive that can fully preserve the memory of a culture is deemed impossible since memory differs from person to person. The whole spectrum of stories appears to be unattainable, even with archivists’ efforts to include multiple voices in archives.125 Gaps in the archive limit the group’s ability to 122 Saidiya Hartman, “Venus in two acts,” Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism 12, no. 2 (2008): 1–3. 123 Hartman, “Venus in two acts,” 2. 124 Carter, “Of Things Said and Unsaid,” 219. 125 Carter, “Of Things Said and Unsaid,” 220–221. 40 construct and preserve its narrative and history. Lack of access to archives disrupts retaining information over time, which makes it challenging to form a strong sense of collective identity.126 Jacques Derrida argues that the concept of memory inherently includes the element of forgetting. He writes “... the archive—the good one—produces memory but produces forgetting at the same time ... [T]he trace is at the same time the memory, the archive, and the erasure, the repression, the forgetting of what is supposed to be kept safe.”127 Similarly, silence and speech are connected. Silence is an essential component of the existence of speech, since its absence would result in chaotic noise without any structure. In the same way, silence depends on words in order to provide them with meaning and context; without which, silence would be irrelevant. The unsaid determines and defines what is being said and what is missing. Rodney Carter names this intriguing idea that can be found in the archive an absent-presence. It describes a situation in which what is present is determined by what is absent. The preserved record in the archive determines the story and demonstrates the absent piece of history.128 Archival silence impacts history, memory, and identity by allowing powerful groups to manipulate historical understanding. This process, referred to as preserving a “sliver of a sliver of a sliver” of the documentary universe, results in a void in collective memory.129 In Pierre Nora’s words, modern memory is archival.130 M.T. Clanchy argues that archivists are the 126 Carter, “Of Things Said and Unsaid,” 221. 127 Jacques Derrida, “Archive Fever in South Africa,” in Refiguring the Archive, ed. David Philip (Cape Town, 2002): 54. 128 Carter, “Of Things Said and Unsaid,” 223. 129 Harris, “Claiming Less, Delivering More,” 97. 130 Pierre Nora, “Between Memory and History,” 13. 41 “keepers of a society’s collective record of the past.”131 The collective memory of any event is shaped by the archivist, his or her decisions, and the form of the archives. Impaired human memory affects our ability to remember the past and recollect ideas and thoughts.132 Similarly, when the archive is impaired by silence, the collective memory of a nation is significantly impacted. Only powerful groups can counter such silences. Marginalized groups lose their history as the stories they tell disappear in the archival process and preservation.133 According to Susan Gal, silence is traditionally deplored as “those who are denied speech cannot make their experience known and thus cannot influence the course of their lives or of history.”134 As a result, the archive is compromised. Sexual Violence in War and Memory Conflict-related sexual violence has consistently been an ongoing problem throughout history, particularly during times of war. It is often disregarded as a secondary consequence of more significant acts of violence. The suffering of women and girls who endure sexual violence has been a persistent occurrence throughout different historical periods in conjunction with warfare. These atrocities have been committed in a methodical manner, regardless of whether men were involved in offensive or defensive warfare.135 Gender-specific aspects of memory, especially in times of war and brutality, are often overlooked in traditional narratives. Whether 131 M.T. Clanchy, “‘Tenacious Letters’: Archives and Memory in the Middle Ages,” Archivaria 11 (Winter 1980–81), 116. 132 Barbara L. Craig, “Selected Themes in the Literature on Memory and Their Pertinence to Archives,” American Archivist 65, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2002): 282. 133 Carter, “Of Things Said and Unsaid,” 220. 134 Susan Gal, “Between Speech and Silence: The Problematics of Research on Language and Gender,” in The Women and Language Debate: A Sourcebook, ed. Camille Roman, Suzanne Juhasz, and Cristanne Miller (New Brunswick, NJ, 1994): 407. 135 Olivera Simic, Silenced Victims of Wartime Sexual Violence (London: Routledge, 2018), 13. 42 women are the perpetrators or the victims of genocide, the history, memory, and ideologies surrounding these events are frequently seen as male property.136 In the last twenty years, researchers in the field of genocide studies have integrated the perspectives of women and gendered viewpoints into their examination of the Holocaust and more recent events of war and conflict.137 For instance, the Second World War narratives frequently portray nations as either victorious or as victims, although the existence of atrocities committed during the war and subsequent efforts to hide them pose a challenge to these assertions. The memory of conflicts is crucial for a nation’s identity, and the public recognition of sexual violence can impact the present-day identities of the peoples of Russia, Germany, or France.138 In what follows, I describe instances of wartime sexual violence in two historical moments: during the Second World War and comfort women’s victimization before and during the Second World War. The Second World War: The Second World War (1939–1945) witnessed the perpetration of various atrocities by armed forces, with the Holocaust standing out as a widely recognized historical event. During this period of intense struggle, Jews were specifically targeted and systematically killed due to their Jewish identity. The memory of sexual violence committed by Germans and Russians during the Second World War is often overlooked or forgotten, making it less well publicized. If well publicized in the media, it could threaten the 136 Elissa Bemporad and Joyce W. Warren, Memory, Body, and Power: Women and the Study of Genocide (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2018), 5. 137 Scholars whose works focus on the women and gendered viewpoints in war and genocide are: Amy E. Randall, ed., Genocide and Gender in the Twentieth Century: A Comparative Study (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015); Adam Jones, ed., Gendercide and Genocide (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2004); Samuel Totten, ed., Plight and Fate of Women During and Following Genocide (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2009); and Andrea Smith, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015). 138 Sonia Tiemann, “Rape In World War II Memory” (Honors Thesis, Union College - Schenectady, NY, 2014), 77. 43 dominant wartime narrative of perpetrators and provide recognition to silenced victims.139 In order to make women visible and a part of war memory, it is imperative to recognize and acknowledge the prevalence of sexual violence during war. The public narrative of a nation often contradicts the actual realities on the ground. For instance, when referring to Russia’s “Great Patriotic War,” the accounts generally exclude mention of sexual violence as one of the atrocities perpetrated by Germany. Germany has a motive to deny these heinous acts because of its wartime dominance over the conquered territories and subsequent memories of the Holocaust. Therefore, the memory of the Jewish Holocaust is predominantly influenced by men, with Jewish women often being overlooked and not specifically acknowledged for their experiences of sexual violence within the broader Jewish narrative of suffering.140 Sexual assault was widespread in Germany and Europe during the Second World War, particularly among Jewish women who were victims of extreme brutality. However, survivors refrained from publicly addressing or documenting their traumatic experience.141 According to Zoe Waxman, women who suffered sexual abuse during the Holocaust have difficulty sharing their stories in a culture that rejects the existence of sexual violence during the Holocaust.142 It was prohibited for Germans to “comingle” with the Jewish race. This prohibition coupled with the stigma attached to Jewish women being sexually abused by German soldiers, created a culture of silence and denial around these atrocities. As a result, both Jewish women and German soldiers wanted to forget the occurrence of sexual violence.143 139 Tiemann, “Rape In World War II Memory,” 33. 140 Zoe Waxman, “Rape and Sexual Abuse in Hiding,” in Sexual Violence Against Jewish Women During the Holocaust, ed. Sonja M. Hedgepeth and Rochelle G. Saidel (Waltham Brandeis University Press, 2010), 129. 141 Waxman, “Rape and Sexual Abuse in Hiding,” 124. 142 Waxman, “Rape and Sexual Abuse in Hiding,” 128. 143 Tiemann, “Rape In World War II Memory,” 37. 44 The Holocaust permanently stays in the minds of survivors, manifesting as constant reminders in their everyday existence. While both men and women hold memories of their traumatic experiences, women face challenges in effectively sharing their narratives. Men often struggle to understand the widespread concern regarding the sexual violence that women constantly endure, leading women to feel excluded from the narrative. This, in turn, limits women’s ability to properly convey their lived experience.144 Following the Second World War, there has been a growing appreciation for the courage displayed by the Red Army.145 However, this appreciation often fails to acknowledge the grave acts of violence perpetrated against the girls and women of Berlin. This historical paradox is characterized by the victimization of German girls and women, many of whom were supporters of the Nazi regime, by Red Army soldiers who had liberated Hitler’s concentration camps.146 Further, mass sexual assault in Berlin strengthened the Russian collaboration by dehumanizing and weakening the status of other women, dividing Russian men from all German women, and deepening the bonds between the Russian men. These acts of violence were driven by a desire for masculine dominance and conquest, with sexual assault being a tool to assert power and self-esteem among the perpetrators. The emotional and physical trauma endured by the victims contrasts sharply with the reinforcement of masculine identity among the soldiers.147 The Red Army subjected several German women to sexual violence as a retaliatory measure for the harm inflicted upon Russian women by Germans during the Second World War. 144 Tiemann, “Rape In World War II Memory,” 48. 145 The Red Army was the official name of the armed forces of Soviet Russia and later the Soviet Union. 146 James Messerschmidt, “The forgotten victims of World War II: masculinities and rape in Berlin, 1945,” Violence Against Women 12, no. 7 (July 2006): 706. 147 Messerschmidt, “The forgotten victims of World War II,” 708. 45 This sexual violence was particularly prevalent in Berlin, leading to consequences such as unwanted pregnancies and the legalization of abortions for women who were assaulted. Due to the widespread belief that they were superior, Germans did not want mixed-race children.148 The patriarchal culture in Germany during this time contributed to the shame associated with sexual violence, as men felt humiliated by the idea of their wives being assaulted. This shame further suppressed men’s ability to address their wives’ trauma, leading to a culture of silence among German women about their wartime experiences.149 Both German and Russian soldiers were reluctant to acknowledge the involvement of their troops in sexual violence against German women, creating a cycle of denial and silence surrounding these atrocities.150 The Comfort Women: The existence of “comfort women” in Japan has been widely reported since the 1990s, despite the Japanese government’s constant denial of any involvement in the violence. Their existence poses a serious challenge to the victimization narrative, which is inconsistent with the systematic and strategic nature of the issue and Japan’s version of events during the war.151 The worldwide dispute around this subject developed in the 1990s when the existence of “comfort women” was revealed, leading to a subsequent public outrage against the Japanese government’s efforts to hide these crimes following the war.152 The Japanese Imperial Army used “comfort women,” primarily of Korean descent, as forced sexual slaves. Japan had already established influence over Korea. While women from various Asian countries were recruited, the majority were Korean due to Japan’s pre-existing perception of Koreans as inferior. 148 Atina Grossmann, “Question of Silence,” in Women and War in the Twentieth Century (London: Routledge, 1999), 55. 149 Grossmann, “Question of Silence,” 61. 150 Grossmann, “Question of Silence,” 62. 151 Tiemann, “Rape In World War II Memory,” 6. 152 Yuki Tanaka, Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II (Boulder: Westview Press,1996), 79. 46 The term “comfort women” stemmed from the belief that they would provide care and happiness to soldiers, unaware that their duties included sexual services.153 In traditional patriarchal Confucian society, the innocence of Korean women was highly valued and preserved until their marriage. However, during the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945, the Japanese Imperial Army forcibly took unmarried Korean women, believing in their own superiority. They justified their actions by advocating for the preservation of purity and chastity to prevent the spread of venereal diseases. This led to the coercion of Korean women into becoming “comfort women” because of racial prejudice stemming from their perceived inferiority.154 The exact number of women who have been exploited is hard to determine because of missing or distorted documentation. The estimates vary between 80,000 and 100,000, according to the Japanese military plan, which stipulated the need for 20,000 comfort women for every 700,000 soldiers.155 The controversy surrounding Japan’s actions during the Second World War has been fueled by the testimonies of surviving comfort women who have bravely spoken out about the practice of sex slavery. Despite these allegations, the Japanese government vehemently denies any involvement, choosing instead to focus on the suffering endured by the Japanese people during the war. This stance has led to tensions and conflicts with neighbouring countries as Japan continued to assert its own victimhood in the Second World War.156 153 Yoshimi Yoshiaki, Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II, trans. Suzanne O’Brien (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), 106. 154 Yuki Tanaka, Japan’s Comfort Women (London: Routledge, 2003), 31. 155 Tanaka, Hidden Horrors, 99. 156 Tiemann, “Rape In World War II Memory,” 78. 47 According to Caroline Norma, there is a significant issue in the literature regarding the victimization of Japanese women in comfort stations during wartime. She draws attention to the widespread failure of historians to acknowledge this fact and points out that scholars either failed to include Japanese women in descriptions of individuals who were recruited or suggested that their numbers were insignificant. Norma argues that some historians even actively deny that Japanese women were targeted for trafficking. This exclusion of Japanese women from the narrative of comfort women has led to their marginalization in the pursuit of justice for these victims.157 Silence as a form of Symbolic and Structural Violence The relationship between wartime and postwar violence is seen as interrelated, where injustices resulting from regimes of power are reflected in micro level life processes and structural inequalities in access to basic rights and social services. These disparities contribute to both tangible and symbolic forms of violence, including social marginalization, degradation, rejection, self-devaluation, and abuse. These disparities influence individuals’ behaviour and comprehension of the world, underscoring the importance of acknowledging the relationship between complex operation of violence and dynamics of violence.158 Symbolic violence is a strategy used to silence the controlled and practice discrete domination. It is frequently unnoticeable and hidden. French Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu established the concept of “symbolic violence,” which describes how symbolic dominance—rather than physical force—maintains social hierarchies and inequalities. It is mostly expressed 157 Caroline Norma, Japanese Comfort Women and Sexual Slavery During the China and Pacific Wars (Bloomsbury, 2016), 36–49. 158 Cecilia Menjívar, Enduring Violence: Ladina Women’s Lives in Guatemala (California: The University of California Press, 2011): 7–8. 48 through symbolic means of communication, cognition, recognition, or even emotion, which have an impact on Bourdieu’s theory of power and domination.159 Symbolic violence encompasses the dynamics of power and relationships that are not built on physical force or bodily harm. These fundamental forms of control arise from interpersonal interactions rather than institutional mechanisms. It is widespread in social contexts beyond the family, as well as within the family, especially in establishing a relationship of dominance over women.160 In this instance, symbolic power needs to be understood from within and through the specific relationship between the people who exercise it and the people who submit to it. The power of words and ideas lies in their legitimacy and the credibility of those who express them, as they are generated and perpetuated within the realm of belief.161 People in society frequently fail to acknowledge the social causes of suffering, which exacerbates the problem and maintains symbolic hierarchies of power.162 The privileged classes follow the regulations of their privilege-granting system and are restricted within it. The perpetuation of these hierarchies and systems of dominance occurs when those in power and those who are subjugated view these systems as valid, causing them to behave in a manner that serves their own advantages within the system.163 Systemic inequalities in everyday lives and interpersonal attitudes are maintained and promoted by processes and mechanisms apparent in symbolic encounters, communication and 159 Pierre Bourdieu, Masculine domination, trans. Richard Nice (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2001), 2. 160 Beate Krais, “Gender and symbolic violence: female oppression in light of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of social practice,” in Bourdieu: Critical Perspectives, ed. Craig Calhoun, Edward LiPuma, and Moishe Postone (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1993), 171. 161 Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2002), 170. 162 Daniel Schubert, “Suffering/Symbolic violence,” in Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, ed. Michael Grenfell (London: Routledge, 2013), 180. 163 Schubert, “Suffering/Symbolic violence,” 180. 49 behaviour. Power operates through individuals’ lack of comprehension regarding the underlying significance of everyday behaviours, rituals, and practices. According to Bourdieu, any language that is able to capture people’s attention is considered “authorized language” and legitimate.164 In turn, this authorized language suppresses and silences other viewpoints in the narrative through misrecognition. The misrecognition of causes along with blame for acts of violence highlights the prevalence of the victim-blaming narrative, which is not only socially endorsed but also acknowledged as a worldwide concern. For example, women may internalize when they give in to their abuser’s requests in order to stop more violence from happening. The abuser wants to undermine the victim’s agency and voice while highlighting their weaknesses. Consequently, the victim adopts the abuser’s attitude, resulting in a loss of their own viewpoint when it comes to relationships. Victims frequently experience a sense of uncertainty and disbelief finding it challenging to express what happened to them.165 Inequalities and injustices in society can be understood as a form of structural violence. Structural violence is important because it identifies harm within societal structures that perpetuates inequality and hinders individuals from reaching their full potential. The concept was introduced and popularized by Norwegian Sociologist and “father of peace studies,” Johan Galtung, who referred to structural violence as a silent form of violence.166 In a culture that does not change, personal violence will be seen as wrong, but structural violence might be seen as 164 Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), 170–71. 165 Suruchi Thapar-Björkert, Lotta Samelius and Gurchathen Sanghera, “Exploring symbolic violence in the everyday: misrecognition, condescension, consent and complicity,” Feminist Review 112, no. 1 (February 2016): 151. 166 Johan Galtung, “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research,” Journal of Peace Research 6, no. 3 (1969): 173. 50 normal, like breathing.167 According to Galtung, structural violence is widespread and frequently upheld by people who might not even be conscious of their contribution to maintaining systemic injustices.168 In his work, Galtung makes a distinction between structural and direct violence, emphasizing that the structural form of violence results in unequal opportunities for power and life and is intrinsic and not observable. As Galtung states, “violence is built into the structure and shows up as unequal power and consequently as unequal life chances.”169 Direct violence, on the other hand, arises from physical injury and is perpetrated by individuals. Structural violence stems from a gradual and ongoing process, and this is why it is silent in nature.170 This differentiation underscores the intricate character of violence and its influence on individuals.171 Structural violence is commonly seen as the prevailing social order. However, it is encountered as injustice and violence at particular points where race, ethnicity, class, nationality, gender, and age interact. The power and coercion of dominant groups at the local, state, and international levels give rise to inequality, which takes the form of administrative, legal, and economic structures. These inequalities are justified by ideology, historical context, philosophical beliefs, and religious doctrines.172 The violence that is perceived as injustice at intersections of race, class or gender is invisible to those who belong to the dominant culture because they have developed a tolerance 167 Galtung, “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research,” 173. 168 Galtung, “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research,” 174. 169 Galtung, “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research,” 171. 170 Galtung, “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research,” 171. 171 Menjívar, Enduring Violence, 30. 172 Lubna Nazir Chaudhury, “Reconstituting Selves in the Karachi Conflict: Mohajir Women Survivors and Structural Violence,” Cultural Dynamic 16, no. 2/3 (2004): 260–61. 51 for inequality, which manifests itself in forms such as homelessness or poverty. Societal structural components frequently categorize specific populations as deserving of unfair treatment or reduced humanity, resulting in instances of violence. Illustrative instances encompass colonialism, racism, and socioeconomic disparity. In order to understand these structural inequalities, it is important to direct our attention towards their historical backgrounds and the specific components that give rise to these differences.173 The interpretation of history for biranganas has been reshaped by this viewpoint, which is grounded in silence and instances of violence. Consequently, it encouraged me to focus my research on archival materials, as they encompass both historical context and present explanations, enabling me to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the experiences of biranganas. Method and Data Collection This thesis relies on archival and interdisciplinary methods. I draw on three categories of archival materials: historical photographs, newspaper cuttings, and published oral testimonies, to examine the techniques that were employed to silence the voices of survivors of sexual violence during the 1971 Liberation War. In this section, I will provide a brief overview of the selection criteria I used to determine which archives to consider and which types of documents to choose and analyze. I will also explain the methods I used when conducting archival research and analysis. I utilized two primary criteria in the process of selecting archives for the purpose of this study. As previously mentioned in the introduction chapter, the availability of archives containing 173 Joshua M Price, Structural Violence: Hidden Brutality in the Lives of Women (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2012), 6. https://doi.org/10.1353/book19307. 52 records related to biranganas is limited in Bangladesh. The majority of archives primarily exhibit and preserve materials pertaining to the 1971 Liberation War in general. Most of the archives exhibit items representing male combatants, while the inclusion of materials concerning victims of sexual violence is hardly encountered within these extensive and widely accessed archives. Initially, I selected archives based on their activities and objectives, specifically focusing on the types of events they prioritize, as this increases the likelihood of obtaining relevant information from them. The objectives and activities of an organization also influence the nature of archival materials, the process of selecting them, and the methods used to preserve them. In order to be eligible for consideration in this study, archives were required to have materials pertaining to the victims of sexual violence during the 1971 Liberation War. Additionally, my attention was directed to the presence of supplementary literature to provide additional context and verification of the archival materials and their sources. Based on these two criteria, the following three archives were selected for this study: the Liberation War Museum archive and library at Agargaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh; the Ain-O-Salish Kendra library at Lalmatia, Dhaka, Bangladesh; and the digital archive Muktijuddho e-archive174 (Bangladesh Liberation War Archive). Archival Field Work Traditionally, the concept of an archive has evolved, now referring to authorized collections housed in a traditional setting.175 Modern archives are characterized as repositories of 174 Muktijuddho e-Archive (Bangladesh Liberation War Archive - https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ ) is a Digital Library working with the collection, maintenance and public viewing of the historical documents regarding the Bangladesh Liberation War, Genocide of Innocent Bengali People in 1971 and contemporary political events of Bangladesh. 175 Lynée Lewis Gaillet, “(Per)Forming Archival Research Methodologies,” College Composition and Communication 64, no. 1 (September 2012): 39. 53 primary sources that are utilized to construct narratives and generate knowledge, rather than being perceived solely as warehouses for locating pre-existing information.176 Today, digital archives play a crucial role by generating an abundance of social data that was previously inaccessible to the general public. This concept broadens the understanding of archives by incorporating more democratic perspectives. Scholars contend that the archive is no longer confined to a physical space that houses a limited selection of objects. The concept of ‘the archive’ is characterized by its continuous evolution.177 I have kept current scholarship on the multifaceted and evolving nature of the archive in mind in selecting archives for my study. I studied each archive to decide what types of information are stored there and how I can produce new knowledge using them in ways that will allow me to address my central research questions around the historical silencing of the biranganas. In order to gain some background information regarding the Liberation War Museum and Ain-O-Shalish Kendra’s establishment and objectives, I read as much as I could about it before leaving for my research trip to Dhaka to look through the archives in person. Through an examination of manuscripts and publications from the Ain-O-Salish Kendra, I have formulated preliminary conclusions regarding their methods of selecting and maintaining records. My previous experience attending several seminars and workshops at these institutions as an undergraduate student also helped me determine the resources available there. One key fact about archival research is building a positive and trusting relationship with the archivist before visiting it in-person. Establishing rapport with the archivist provides many social benefits for the researcher and determines the success of the research. Archivists are the 176 Gaillet, “(Per)Forming Archival Research Methodologies,” 39. 177 Gaillet, “(Per)Forming Archival Research Methodologies,” 54. 54 “gatekeeper” of the archive who are up-to-date on archival materials and can offer additional recommendations that might benefit the researcher with relevant materials.178 The two archives I visited feature diverse categories of documents related to the 1971 Liberation War. I was unable to thoroughly examine each file and gather all the relevant documents. During my visit to the Liberation War Museum archive, I sought guidance from Rezina Begum, the head of research and library, who had the best understanding of the structure of the archive. She recommended that I explore Gallery 4 of the repository, which has various documents on the victims of 1971 sexual violence. During my visit to Ain-O-Salish Kendra, I sought guidance from Rakhee Zaman, who has been a part of this NGO for a long period. She supplied me with crucial information regarding their collection. Prior to visiting these archives in person, I established a positive relationship with both of them and gained confidence by maintaining regular communication via email. The third archive I have utilized is an internet-based archive accessible to the general public. The website, https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ serves as a Digital Library that houses a collection of photographs, historical documents, books, and other important items related to the 1971 Liberation War. I have collected three different types of materials from these three archives for my study. From the Liberation War Museum, I was able to collect historical photographs and published books with the oral testimonies of the sexual assault victims. Ain-O-Salish Kendra archives newspaper articles on biranganas from different decades. I was able to locate and collect newspaper cuttings and published books with the oral testimonies of the sexual assault victims 178 Maureen Wangard, Archival Research: Using Modern Techniques to Reveal the Past (London: SAGE Publications Ltd: 2023), 12. 55 from this archive. Finally, the digital archive provides me with a rich source of additional historical photographs and newspaper articles that I did not find in any of the two archives in Dhaka. I am confident that I have an in-depth understanding of every archive I have selected for this study, but I also admit that, due to the volume of information stored there, there are a lot of fascinating items and materials I may have overlooked. 56 Chapter Two: Photographic Memory of the Sexual Violence Photographs play a crucial role beyond being mere visual representations, as they have the power to shape, challenge, or disrupt individual and collective memories within a nation.179 Camera images, although incomplete, spark conversations about their ability to comprehend or contrast with more detailed historical narratives, enabling them to stand on equal footing with comprehensive written records. The widespread use of cameras, their accessibility, and the photographs they produce offer valuable opportunities for everyone to take part in a nation’s memory. In fact, certain photographs often become iconic symbols representing national narratives.180 In Bangladesh, the archival photographs of biranganas are vivid and moving artifacts that work as a visual documentation of the hardship these women experienced during the War of 1971. These photographs highlight the resilience and sorrows of these women as survivors, while also calling attention to the covert silences these victims had to endure in postwar Bangladesh. In addition to capturing the distinct individual memories of the victims in these photos, they enable us to comprehend how Bangladesh as a nation remembers these women today. There are difficulties in the ways photographs shape the past. Photographic images seem to contain memory, which appears to respond to our gaze by telling a story. Since their invention, photographs have been linked to the idea of memory and loss, according to Marita Struken.181 The camera is a piece of technology that reconstructs the past and records photographic memories. However, memories are created by a camera rather than existing independently in a 179 Marita Struken, Tangled Memories: The Vietnam War, The Aids Epidemic, and The Politics of Remembering (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 19. 180 Struken, Tangled Memories, 20. 181 Struken, Tangled Memories, 19. 57 photograph. Photographs may give structure to history and personal experiences, frequently serving as the material proof that supports claims of authenticity, but they also have the power to capture the unreachable.182 The link between photographic memory and history can produce different results: it can create new memories as well as obliterate them. In the process of producing new memories, there is always something that is forgotten.183 By freezing time, photographs document both specific events and omit other actions or inactions that have not been captured using a camera. In this context, photographs serve as a powerful tool for bearing witness to war atrocities. Bearing witness helps collective remembering by interpreting historical events as significant and requiring critical attention. At the same time, by capturing war atrocities, photographs facilitate truth telling and emphasize the importance of collectively acknowledging and addressing such events.184 Additionally, it supports Maurice Halbwachs’s argument that memory is created not by an individual’s own conscious mind, but rather, by a collective awareness that shapes it to the goals of people using it in the present.185 For instance, the photographs of the Second World War concentration camps, widely named as “atrocity photos” by postwar critics, not only help to remember the Holocaust (1941–45), but also to develop a conscious sense of understanding contemporary instances of atrocity.186 This is a memory practice that allows people who were not present during the event to experience the Holocaust personally, in part through photographs. Thus, while viewing the pictorial depictions of the atrocity in Rwanda (1994) or Bosnia (1992–95) in different media or exhibitions, viewers often use memories of the Second World War as a 182 Struken, Tangled Memories,19–20. 183 Struken, Tangled Memories, 19–20. 184 Barbie Zelizer, Remembering to forget: Holocaust memory through the camera’s eye (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 10–13. 185 Maurice Halbwachs, The Collective Memory (NY: Harper & Row, 1980), 69. 186 Zelizer, Remembering, 1. 58 backdrop or context.187 Therein lies the photograph’s ability to serve as a memory-container, that is, a potent foundational element for the past that links the unimaginable to the imagined. The photographs of the Holocaust have had a complex impact on society. On one hand, these photographs serve as a reminder of the horrors of the past, helping to prevent us from forgetting the atrocities. On the other hand, they also raise moral concerns about our responsibilities to address current atrocities.188 The available photographs of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh play a complex role in recording the history of the war and the atrocities inflicted upon women in 1971. Unlike written accounts, these photographs vividly capture the horror of the war and bear witness to the untold individual stories through visualization, creating a public assumption of responsibility. It reminds the new generation about events that have been ignored in mainstream media and literary works. However, as an inevitable consequence of preserving and presenting these old photographs, they are limited to representing a partial image of the history of sexual violence. The 1971 Liberation War was captured in photographs by many local and foreign photographers. Most of the local photographers were relatively young in 1971 and some of them intended to make photography their profession. Following the declaration of independence, a few of them rose to fame as photographers. Some of the renowned Bengali photographers who visually documented the Liberation War are Naibuddin Ahmed, Rashid Talukder, Abdul Hamid Raihan, Aftab Ahmed, Jalaluddin Haider, Mohammad Shafi, Sayeeda Khanom, Golam Mawla, and Mukaddes Ali. They exhibited remarkable bravery by going into the battle zone armed with their cameras. Their courageous determination to capture the suffering and gore of the war has 187 Zelizer, Remembering, 10–13. 188 Zelizer, Remembering, 12–13. 59 resulted in our now possessing the photographs as an essential physical record of the Liberation War.189 Naibuddin Ahmed is perhaps the most well-known among all the Bengali photographers. He captured many photos of the war that were published on numerous international platforms and publicized around the world. Working as a principal researcher photographer at the East Pakistan Agricultural University, Ahmed once cleverly deceived the Pakistani army by secretly capturing images of torture and violence while pretending to fix a malfunctioning camera. The lens of the camera was blocked, but Ahmed discovered that the camera was operating perfectly. He then secretly shot pictures of surrounding buildings that had been set on fire and regular people being tortured at the camp while feigning that it was still not in operation. He asked permission to bring the camera home from the army officer so he could use the appropriate tools to fix it. The next day, he returned the camera, but Ahmed kept the film he used to take those photographs. After the reel was developed, Ahmed sent all the photographs to Colonel Taher, the sector 11 commander.190 Some of his photographs were published in the Washington Post. Despite facing backlash from the Pakistani army, Ahmed’s impactful photographs shed light on the suffering of women and civilians in Bangladesh, leaving a lasting impression on the international community. Those published photographs damaged Pakistan’s claim of “normalcy,” as they exposed to the international community the daily atmosphere of terror happening in 189 “Capturing History,” Londoni, last modified October 5, 2017, http://www.londoni.co/index.php/23-history-of-bangladesh/1971-muktijuddho/157-muktijuddho-bangladesh-liberation-war-1971-capturing-history-bengali-photographer-history-of-bangladesh. 190 “A photographer looks back at 1971,” The Daily Star, accessed March 11, 2023, https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-65606. 60 Bangladesh.191 After witnessing the horror of the war, Ahmed was so disturbed by the atrocity that he gave up photography as a profession. This chapter engages with a diverse set of archival photographs, including Naibuddin Ahmed’s iconic “hair photograph,” that capture the sexual violence of 1971, and its impact on women. These photographs were collected from different archives during my research trip in Bangladesh as well as from different online sources.192 I have analyzed these photographs based on their historical relevance and theoretical connections. These photographs bear witness to those forgotten memories that are integral to understanding the history of the war. By forgotten memories, I refer to the layers of silence concerning a birangana’s identity, public perceptions, and the moral and social stigmas attached to abortion and the adoption of war babies (who were products of sexual assault). The analysis of some of these iconic and haunting photographs not only gives an insight into the public perception of the victims of sexual violence in Bangladesh, but also invites us to question from where such embedded ideas developed. The dominant patriarchal viewpoints in society are maintained, I argue, through the symbolic meanings these photos carry. By following photographs from the moment of their creation to their subsequent incorporation into archives and deployment in the construction of narratives, this chapter tracks both silence and violence throughout the record’s many uses. Here, silence and violence are interconnected by the same underlaying issue. The central theoretical argument in this chapter suggests that the ways in which these photographs establish a collective memory are interconnected with other portrayals of biranganas, particularly in the context of symbolic 191 “A photographer looks back at 1971,” The Daily Star, accessed March 11, 2023, https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-65606. 192 It is important to note that the Bangladeshi government has designated the 1971 Liberation War photographs as a priceless component of the country’s public and national history. These pictures can be used by anyone as long as proper credit is provided. 61 violence. In short, my aim is to understand the image of a birangana that is influenced by the visual representation of these photographs and how that affects the collective memory. The Iconic Hair Photograph In 1971, a photograph (see Figure 1) captured by Bangladeshi photographer Naibuddin Ahmed spurred public discussion and drew global attention to the barbaric sexual violence that was being committed against women in Bangladesh. Ahmed took this photo of a woman at the East Pakistan Agricultural University in Mymensingh. The woman in the photograph was one of millions of sexually assaulted victims by the Pakistani army.193 In the photograph, the most striking fact is that the victim is seen covering her face with her fists. Her hair is disheveled and messy. She seems to be in a state of shock and pain. It symbolizes the psychological effect of sexual violence on its victim. The woman who is trying to hide her identity out of shame and fear is the focal point of the photograph. Despite her obscured face, the intense emotion she is experiencing is palpable, effectively communicating her deep frustration through her defensive posture. Her posture in this photograph is a visual representation of the social and psychological effects of the atrocities carried out on innocent Bengali women during the war. John Tulloch referred to this photograph as “classical a pose as any Madonna and Child.”194 In this photograph, the victim’s urge to cover her face with fists and tousled hair is symbolic in many ways; as John Tulloch suggests, the photograph has the capacity to reveal or suggest what is unsayable.195 The image became an 193 Brownmiller, Against Our Will, 80–81. 194 John Tulloch and Richard Blood, “Iconic photojournalism and absent images: Democratization and memories of terror,” in The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism, ed. Stuart Allan (London: Routledge, 2010), 513. 195 John Tulloch and Richard Blood, Icons of War and Terror: Media Images in an Age of International Risk (London: Routledge, 2012), 54–55. 62 iconic photograph after it was exhibited and used on many public platforms and popularized in Western media, including the photographic exhibition in London titled “Bangladesh 1971,” and in The Washington Post and The Guardian.196 Figure 1. The iconic hair photograph by Naibuddin Ahmed, Liberation War Museum, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Gallery 4. Used With Permission. Iconic photographs refer to powerful photographs with symbolic meanings of singular historical events that have been widely reproduced and circulated by the media, thereby catalyzing public debate. Iconic photographs also have the capacity to shape collective memory of the event and represent an era or historical theme for subsequent generations. They also work 196 Mookherjee, “The raped woman,” 6. 63 as a formal blueprint for other images in later periods that produce similar concepts.197 In this context, this photograph in which the faceless victim’s hair dominates has become the formal blueprint for images that capture the sexual violence and victimization of women in contemporary Bangladesh. During the war, the hair photograph was first published in The Washington Post, a popular platform that drew international attention to the fact that women are subject to sexual violence in Bangladesh by men of the Pakistani army. In 2008, it was exhibited in London with the following caption: “One of the estimated 400,000 birangana, meaning ‘brave women,’ who were raped during the war.”198 Not only in exhibitions, but it has also been used in many national and international film festivals, posters, documentaries, and newspaper or online articles symbolizing victims of sexual assaults in 1971. This iconic photograph is also displayed in Gallery 4 at the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka and listed in muktijuddho e-archive. Here, what I will refer to as the “hair photograph” bears witness to the sexual violence of 1971 by drawing the critical attention of the public visiting the museum or browsing the e-archive. By doing so, it constitutes a form of collective memory. Bearing witness is an approach that facilitates the recovery process for individuals who experienced tragic events by establishing a collective understanding. It involves taking responsibility for what they see, transitioning from individual perception to embracing both an individual and collective position.199 The act of bearing witness can be facilitated by photographic images. However, visuals can only be useful up until a certain point in the 197 Akiba Cohen, Sandrine Boudana and Paul Frosh, “You must remember this: Iconic news photographs and collective memory,” Journal of Communication 68, no. 3 (2018): 453–455. 198 Mookherjee, “The raped woman,” 6. 199 Zelizer, Remembering, 10. 64 development of presumptions regarding atrocities. As Barbie Zelizer argues, while photographs might be important in establishing a collective understanding of what is morally acceptable, they are usually prohibited from public exhibition until the nation in question is prepared to openly acknowledge the committed atrocities.200 The “hair photograph” depicts the way a sexually assaulted victim is perceived in Bangladesh, especially in rural areas. People remember and describe sexually transgressed victims through such phrases as “horrific scene” marked by their “disheveled hair,” “her loud laughter,” or her “quietness,” “muteness,” “the one who stares into space,” with “deadened-eyes.”201 These terms reflect how symbolic perceptions and power dynamics in society shape a social narrative based on gender, leading to the formation of collective acceptance.202 Nayanika Mookherjee asserts that the dissemination of this hair photograph and other visual representations of victims of sexual violence in 1971 highlights the existence of a collective memory regarding wartime sexual atrocities. During her fieldwork in rural Bangladesh to collect oral testimonies of biranganas, Mookherjee encountered many questions referring to the iconic hair photograph, such as: “Have you seen ‘the famous hair photograph?’ The raped woman covering her face with her fist and hair? The women we saw looked very much like that. They had become “abnormal” (mentally unstable) after the assault.”203 This comment emphasizes the importance of visually identifying the victim. The collective memory of wartime sexual violence in Bangladesh identifies the victim as abnormal or mentally unstable. Mookherjee further states that such identification makes birangana a complex figure whose identity is shaped by both real- 200 Zelizer, Remembering, 11. 201 Leesa Gazi, “Matir duniya shunte ki pai?” Bangladesh News, March 25, 2014, http://arts.bdnews24.com/?p=5766. 202 Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991), 166. 203 Mookherjee, The Spectral Wound, xvi. 65 life experiences and representations in literature and visual media.204 In this process, the victim loses her true identity and becomes a symbol of shame. To understand how shame is associated with a sexual assault victim’s identity, we need to conceptualize the patriarchal culture of South Asia. In the patriarchal society of South Asia, the concepts of honour and shame are interconnected; although, these two terms have contrasting meanings. Honour is a gendered notion that refers to the fact that men possess intrinsic honour and have the authority to impose power and regulate women’s conduct. On the other hand, women possess only shame and they are the repositories of men’s honour. This conceptualization produces inequality. Thus, shame (shorom in Bangla) can be considered a gendered equivalent within the concept of honour, rather than its binary opposite.205 In Bangladesh, patriarchy is deeply ingrained in the social structure, allowing men to exert dominance over women through control of resources and power. This system is rooted in the ownership of resources by men, which renders women dependent and weak. The unequal distribution of labour, property, and financial resources further solidifies men’s dominant position and perpetuates the cycle of patriarchy.206 Such gendered positioning deprives women of their social power and autonomy over their own lives. Men are the controllers of women’s lives, whereas a woman’s worth lies in her virtue and chastity. In a society like this, sexual violence carries multiple symbolic meanings. This masculine dominance is an act of symbolic violence. Here, I refer to Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence, which encompasses all forms of 204 Mookherjee, The Spectral Wound, xvi. 205 Manisha Gupte, “The Role of ‘Honor’ in Violence against South Asian Women in the United States,” in Manavi Occasional Paper No. 11, ed. Shamita Das Dasgupta & Sujata Warrier (NJ: Manavi, 2015): 1. 206 Mead Cain, Syeda Rokeya Khanam, and Shamsun Nahar. “Class, Patriarchy, and Women’s Work in Bangladesh,” Population and Development Review 5, no. 3 (1979): 406. https://doi.org/10.2307/1972079. 66 power relations in society based on hierarchy, subordination, and dominance. In this context, male dominance is established through practical recognition and doxic or normative acceptance in Bangladesh. According to Bourdieu, doxa represents an underlying assumption or belief that is deeply ingrained in a society and shapes how individuals understand and interpret the social world. It can be compared to shared sense or traditional knowledge that influences people’s beliefs.207 In this particular context, traditional societies such as Bangladesh adhere to patriarchal norms that are seen to be rooted in common sense. These norms establish a clear social hierarchy and define gender relations, with the dominant group being men. Sexual and other types of physical or direct violence against women are thus an expression of “symbolic” power.208 As Bourdieu states, “[h]onouring a vital symbolic good is firmly connected to notions of manliness or virility and domestic, legal and educational strategies for controlling kinswomen.”209 In short, the notion of what we call “manliness” also refers to the way men defend their dominant position when it is under attack. In 1971, Pakistani soldiers committed acts of sexual assault against Bengali women, aiming to undermine the dominant position of Bengali men and challenge their sense of honour tied to women’s chastity. This attack was viewed as a public shame, not only for the victim herself but also for her husband, father, family and the entire society. Consequently, the victims and their families affected by the sexual violence were hesitant to disclose the identities of the victims or openly discuss the situation due to the prevailing societal stereotypes. Nilima Ibrahim’s statement on the plight of these victims reflects such inherent masculine superiority. She states that countrymen would have preferred seeing the dead bodies of women victims, 207 Bourdieu, Masculine Domination, 34. 208 Bourdieu, Masculine Domination, 30–34. 209 Bourdieu, Masculine Domination, 48. 67 rather than finding them living and breathing.210 The photograph (see figure 1) by Naibuddin Ahmed exemplifies this masculine response regarding women’s place in a patriarchal society. The victim in the photograph is seen covering her face with her fists, a gesture believed to be an attempt to hide her identity. This action is attributed to societal gender norms that associate a loss of dignity and virtue with victims of sexual violence. The victim’s fear of public shaming and the dishonour brought upon the men responsible for her plight are also highlighted. The photograph thus serves as a powerful symbol representing numerous other victims who, like her, choose to remain silent in order to maintain a normal life. The caption below this photo at the Liberation War Museum adds to such confusion: For the most part, this issue has been brushed aside, since it requires us to look within ourselves, at the strictures and structures of our own society as well as to condemn the brutality of the other. Clearly the ambiguous figure of the birangona (the shamed one) cannot be easily contained within a generalized glorious narrative of the nation.211 Nayanika Mookherjee argues that this photograph creates confusion and bewilderment by referring to biranganas as both ambiguous figures and shamed individuals. The statement suggests that there are conflicting perceptions society holds towards them as the description differs from popular definition of the word birangana. Unlike other materials displayed at the museum, this photo does not have any Bengali translation of the text.212 People visiting the museum, especially children and teenagers today, often ask questions like: Why is the victim covering her face? What is she hiding? What has she done? What is her name and where does she belong?213 Such questioning indicates how these women are remembered (and forgotten) collectively today, referring to the fact that the memory of this violence is often suppressed in the 210 Nilima Ibrahim, A war heroine, I speak, trans. Fayeza Hasanat (Dhaka: Bangla Academy, 2017), 57. 211 Mookherjee, “The raped woman,” 12. 212 Mookherjee, “The raped woman,” 12. 213 Mookherjee, “The raped woman,” 12. 68 current generation through various methods, like avoiding translating the details of the woman’s fate into Bengali. The hair photograph captures the complex and often contradictory social dynamics that women in Bangladesh face, highlighting their subordinate position in society.214 It sheds light on the challenges faced by survivors of sexual assault, who often encounter difficulties speaking out due to societal pressures. In many cases, families, including fathers and spouses, were unsupportive and chose to hide incidents of abduction by Pakistani soldiers. Some victims were even abandoned by their families because of family honour. Bina D’Costa further explains this behaviour with her own experience as an interviewer. D’Costa writes that even though she assured families about her purely academic intentions in recording victim’s testimonies, they were not cooperative in providing details about those victims or their whereabouts.215 In rural Bangladesh, there are many victims whose stories were never recorded because they chose to remain silent due to social stigma and fear of public shaming. Thus, in accordance with Trouillot’s theory, the photographic representations of birangana are marked by a number of silences. To begin with, not all victims of sexual violence were documented in photographs. In addition, archives contain a limited number of photographs that document their victimization in 1971. There is no visual or written documentation available about those lost victims. Insufficient information offers a challenge in establishing verifiable evidence of their victimization. Consequently, the attention given to these iconic photographs of birangana silences numerous unidentified and undocumented victims. 214 D’Costa, “Birangona,” 81. 215 D’Costa, “Birangona,” 111. 69 Victims Lay like Corpses Another haunting picture of a birangana by Naibuddin Ahmed has many social meanings and silences attached to it. The photograph (see figure 2), taken near the Mymensingh Agricultural University, portrays the woman lying next to bunkers with bystanders milling around her. The victim’s unbuttoned and torn blouse, emotionless expression, disheveled hair just like the woman in the first photograph (see Figure 1), and bruised body all serve as poignant symbols of the horror and helplessness experienced by sexual assault survivors. All these factors indicate her physical and psychological struggles. Figure 2. Women discovered in bunker by Naibuddin Ahmed, muktijuddho e-archive (https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ ). Used with Permission. 70 According to Naibuddin Ahmed’s statement recorded by Rahnuma Ahmed, he received the news of corpse-like girls being ‘discovered’ beside bunkers next to the Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh on December 12, 1971. The Pakistani army had established a camp there in April, where women were kept and tortured. On December 12, when the army left Mymensingh, people discovered assaulted women in horrific condition. Upon receiving the news, Naibuddin went there and found people gathering there to witness the victim, who had already turned into a curious object for the audience. He took this photograph of the victim who was not fully conscious at that time. Ahmed approached the woman, but she did not respond. She was tied to the pole behind her, in a defenseless state.216 This photograph (see Figure 2) is a symbolic visualization of the magnitude of torture Pakistani soldiers carried out on Bengali women. In her book Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, Susan Brownmiller revealed that there was evidence that some women were sexually assaulted nearly 80 times in one night by the Pakistani army. The total number of female victims is still a debated issue.217 It is estimated that approximately 200,000 to 400,000 women were sexually abused during the nine months of the war in 1971.218 The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and the United Nations sent Geoffrey Davis, an Australian physician to Dhaka in 1971 to perform late-term abortions and allow widespread foreign adoption of the war children born to Bangladeshi mothers. In response to a question on whether the numbers of women who were sexually assaulted by the Pakistani military were correct, Davis 216 Rahnuma Ahmed, “Bangladesh: Woman Recovered from Pak Army Bunker in December 1971,” accessed March 15, 2023. https://alaiwah.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/bangladesh-woman-recovered-from-pak-army-bunker-in-december-1971/.” 217 Susan Brownmiller and Geoffrey Davis give an estimation of the total number of women who were sexually harassed by the Pakistani army in 1971. The exact number is still unknown, because it is unclear from these estimates if multiple perpetrators and recurrent victimization are taken into consideration. 218 Brownmiller, Against Our Will, 80–81. 71 stated that approximately 400,000 women were sexually abused following the military crackdown.219 In order for Bangladesh to demonstrate the magnitude of the violence committed against women in 1971 and to legitimize the postwar strategies, it was crucial to come up with a definite estimate. The politics of numbers also created a layer of silence between the people who produced the information and the collective remembering of the war in Bangladesh. The Pakistani army used the “hit-and-run” strategy to subjugate the Bengali population. Hit-and-run subjugation refers to the brutality of forcing male or other family members to watch the sexual transgression of their female family members by Pakistani soldiers. Many of these victims and their families were murdered. Some were taken away and kept in captivity as sex slaves.220 Not only in this photograph (see Figure 2), but also many other archival photographs (see Figures 3 and 4) of the war portray how brutal the female victimization was in 1971. Figure 3. Victim of Sexual Violence, muktijuddho e-archive (https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ ). Used With Permission. 219 Bina D’Costa, “1971: Rape and its consequences, an in-depth interview with Dr. Geoffrey Davis,” Bdnews24.com, December 15, 2010, https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2010/12/15/1971-rape-and-its-consequences/. Accessed on 1 February 2023. 220 Pai, “The 1971 East Pakistan,” 4. 72 Figure 4. Victim of Sexual Violence, muktijuddho e-archive (https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ ). Used With Permission. In her book Ami Birangana Bolchi, Nilima Ibrahim gives a detailed description of the horrifying violence that occurred when women were imprisoned and mercilessly attacked by the Pakistani army. Abducted women were treated as personal attendants of army officers. Some of them submitted their bodies to one army officer because, otherwise, they would be assaulted by multiple officers.221 Those who were rescued had to endure an invasive and outrageous public gaze. Most survivors were discovered in weak, injured, and traumatic conditions. The public could not accept them uncritically due to the prejudices and stigmas attached to sexual assault victims in a patriarchal setting. They would stare at them instead of helping them. Their bodies 221 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 60–79. 73 would be lying on the street for hours until rescuers from the Indian army arrived. They were rejected by their own countrymen because of the victimization. In her interview with Dr. Davis, D’Costa found that the Pakistani army divided the abducted women among themselves according to ranks and women’s physical attractiveness. All the rich women and those deemed pretty were kept for officers and the rest were distributed among the other ranks. They treated these women very rough and provided them with no food. Most of them suffered from health issues due to physical torture and malnutrition. When sick, they did not even receive any medical treatment.222 During the war, numerous women and girls became pregnant as a result of the sexual violence perpetrated on them. Babies born during or after the war are referred to as “war babies.” These newborns experienced a difficult childhood following the war and they had to deal with silence and injustice because of the sexual violence perpetrated on their mothers and the circumstances surrounding their birth. The trauma and hardships experienced by both the mothers and their children highlight the need for support and recognition of their unique struggle. War Babies of 1971 In the following photo (see Figure 5), shot at the Missionaries for Charity foundation, fifteen newborns who are up for adoption are displayed on a table. The babies in this photograph are the result of the sexual assaults that their mothers suffered throughout the war of 1971. These war babies faced rejection from the community in post-independence Bangladesh due to the circumstances of their conception. Pakistan’s strategy to impregnate Bengali women further 222 D’Costa, “Birangona,” 84. 74 fueled animosity towards these infants. The image reveals a poignant narrative of silenced stories and layers of historical trauma surrounding these vulnerable newborns. Figure 5. War children, left with the Missionaries of Charity-run Shishu Bhavan (Children's Home) in Dhaka in late July, 1972, “Ekatturer Juddhoshishu: Obidito Itihash”, © Mustafa Chowdhury, Used under Fair Dealing Exception. Before going into detail about the war babies, it is important to shed light on the background of why Pakistan chose forced pregnancy as their war strategy. Nayanika Mookherjee argues that the 1971 sexual violence can be framed within contexts of contestations of identity, historical, and racialized differences. One of the many reasons that the Pakistani army used sexual violence as a war strategy was to impregnant Bengali women and populate East Pakistan with pure Muslim genes. Historically, Bengali Muslims were considered ‘Hinduized’, ‘half Muslims’ and ‘impure’ according to some historical documentation from the eighteenth 75 century.223 After British colonialism, tension between being a pure Muslim and a Bengali Muslim increased. Conservative Muslims from different parts of South Asia regarded these Bengali Muslims as excessively influenced by Bengali culture with Hindu elements.224 In this context, the goal of the Pakistani army was to ‘improve’ the genetics of the Bengali people through forced impregnation.225 The ultimate target was to destroy Bengali nationalism by imposing religious, ethnocentric and gendered boundaries on women’s bodies and wombs.226 In a 2002 article published in Pakistani newspaper Dawn, it was reported that Yahya Khan, the President of Pakistan responsible for authorizing a military operation in East Pakistan in 1971, was identified by a group of Bengali people near Jessore airport in southwest Bangladesh. He pointed towards the Bengali crowd and uttered in Urdu, “Pehle inko Mussalman karo” (translating in English: First, make them Muslim), implying that within the highest ranks of the Pakistani army, there existed a belief that Bengalis were insufficiently Muslims.227 Obeying his orders, soldiers and their collaborators carried out their sexual torture on women in their homes, local areas, or abducted them to established camps. D’Costa states that many lists were created of names and numbers based on this victimization. Due to changes in political parties, most of those lists were deliberately burned in 1972 and the remaining lists were all destroyed during 1978–80 and 1985–86 by subsequent parties in power.228 223 Nayanika Mookherjee, “The absent piece of skin: Gendered, racialized and territorial inscriptions of sexual violence during the Bangladesh war,” Modern Asian Studies 46, no. 6 (November 2012): 1579. 224 Asim Roy, Islam in South Asia: A Regional Perspective (New Delhi: South Asian Publishers Private Limited, 1996), 131–138. 225 Tariq Ali, Can Pakistan Survive? The Death of a State (London: Penguin, 1983), 91. 226 Mookherjee, “Absent piece of skin,” 1582. 227 Bina D’Costa, “Victory’s Silence,” The Daily Star, December 4, 2014, https://www.thedailystar.net/victorys-silence-53364. 228 D’Costa, “Victory’s.” 76 With no exact number of sexual assault victims, it is even harder to determine the number of women who became pregnant in 1971 and gave birth to war babies in the war’s aftermath. The most reliable source is provided in statements by Dr. Geoffrey Davis. Dr. Davis worked with International Planned Parenthood (IPP) and was one of the key individuals involved in administering the government–sponsored abortion program. Dr. Davis gave a detailed description of how the program was led and his experience dealing with war babies.229 According to Dr. Davis’s experience, the sexual violence was in the form of penile penetration. He argues that the popular estimation of approximately 200,000 women becoming pregnant seemed an underestimation to him because many families did not dare to report for fear of persecution, and some wanted to keep such events secret. As a result of these missing cases, many victims remained undocumented and thus silenced.230 Victims who gave birth to war babies between late October 1971 and early September 1972 disappeared from the official record, as most of them abandoned their newborns.231 This disappearance points out the aspect of the past that is silenced. Using Trouillot’s concept, it can be argued that the disappearance of records related to war babies is crucial to the process of how silences of the past enter into the production of history. One reason could be the context of power relations in postwar Bangladesh. The deliberate disappearance of records was employed as a strategy to maintain silence on war babies and effectively communicate with the targeted audience. By erasing certain historical documents, the aim was to present a narrative that aligned with the history that already exists in the minds of the people. In Trouillot’s words, “[w]hen 229 D’Costa, “Victory’s.” 230 Mustafa Chowdhury, “War Babies of 1971: A Missing Historical Narrative,” in The Emergence of Bangladesh: Interdisciplinary Perspective, ed. Habibul Khondker, Olav Muurlink and Asif Bin Ali (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), 44. 231 Chowdhury, “War Babies of 1971,” 41. 77 reality does not coincide with deeply held beliefs, human beings tend to phrase interpretations that force reality within the scope of these beliefs. They devise formulas to repress the unthinkable and to bring it back within the realm of accepted discourse.”232 In this context, certain facts about the 1971 war were prioritized while sensitive and controversial facts related to war babies were removed in order to create an acceptable national narrative. Memories change throughout time, unlike photographs or camera images. They are restructured and redesigned, as well as rewritten. Even though an image may momentarily resolve an issue, its meaning is constantly impacted by the surrounding circumstances.233 Still today, these war babies bear the stigma of illegitimacy in Bangladesh. They are considered “unwanted” because they were born because of forced impregnation through penile penetration against the will of the victims and by the enemy Pakistani soldiers. They were even referred to as “enemy children,” “illegitimate children,” “children of mixed blood,” “offspring of depravity,” “segregation of bad seeds,” “throw-away” or “disposable” babies, and sometimes “bastards” by the print media in the aftermath of the war.”234 After independence, many organizations carried out the daunting task of dealing with unwanted pregnancies with the help of medical professionals and social workers. International Planned Parenthood (IPP), the Red Cross, and the Catholic Church became involved in rehabilitation programs and launched two simultaneous activities: the abortion program that allowed pregnant women to have abortions and the program for the adoption of war babies.235 In an interview conducted by D’Costa, it was discovered that families of victims who wished to 232 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 72. 233 Struken, Tangled Memories, 21. 234 Chowdhury, “War Babies of 1971,” 41. 235 D’Costa, “Victory’s.” 78 maintain their social reputation, chose to have their daughters or sisters undergo abortions if they were pregnant. For those victims who were in a more advanced stage of pregnancy, the families decided to send them to rehabilitation centres. After giving birth at the rehabilitation centre, the babies were given up for the international adoption scheme.236 Abortion and Adoption of War Babies In 1971, the abortion scheme for war babies in Bangladesh was influenced by the societal and legal norms of the time. In Bangladeshi society, sexual relations outside of marriage were considered sinful from both religious and social viewpoints.237 For this reason, the pregnant victims wanted to abort their child and relieve themselves of responsibility for them in order to live an acceptable life. From a legal perspective, abortion was considered an act of infanticide. Sections 312 and 313 of the Penal Code of 1860 stated that whoever voluntarily causes a woman with a child to miscarry shall, if such miscarriage is not caused in good faith for the purpose of saving the life of the woman, be punished.238 In post-independence Bangladesh, this unclear legal framework made the act of abortion very difficult. It was the then-Prime Minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who took measures to amend the law to set up the abortion program for victims.239 Many unknown facts on abortion emerge from Dr. Davis’s interview with Mustafa Chowdhury. According to Mustafa Chowdhury, some of the victims were so desperate that they tried to abort their own child by using traditional indigenous methods.240 Some of them were 236 D’Costa, “Birangona,” 82. 237 Chowdhury, “War Babies of 1971,” 45. 238 Chowdhury, “War Babies of 1971,” 45. 239 Chowdhury, “War Babies of 1971,” 45. 240 Chowdhury, “War Babies of 1971,” 45–46. 79 successful, but most of them hurt their own health in the process. Due to the social and legal barriers attached to such a proscriptive view of abortion, there is no quantitative data available on this topic. Dr. Davis stated that many women gave birth before liberation, indicating that sexual violence started well before it is normally assumed. Victims aborted their fetuses in secret, and they were never traced back. Many families of victims claimed that numerous women also crossed the border secretly and aborted their child in West Bengal because it had more flexible laws regarding abortion.241 Many social workers recorded the personal histories of pregnant sexual assault victims who were brought to various rehabilitation centres. These records were later destroyed by the centres in an attempt to protect the victims’ privacy. Some documents were burned, addresses were erased, and others were lost during the process of compiling comprehensive histories. Despite efforts to preserve the records by giving them to Bangla Academy, they eventually became untraceable and were lost. Nayanika Mookherjee’s ethnographic research revealed the unfortunate reality that many centres housing victims of sexual violence were unable to maintain any documentation, with some even being demolished after independence.242 Although many women aborted their unborn children, there were many others who were in more advanced stages of their pregnancy and had no choice but to give birth. These babies were later adopted by many foreigners and local families under the adoption scheme set up by the Bangladesh government. The government, in collaboration with Seva Sadans, and Jatyo Nari Punorbashon Board, Shishu bhaban and Baby Homes, set up undetermined numbers of 241 Chowdhury, “War Babies of 1971,” 45–46. 242 Nayanika Mookherjee, “Available Motherhood: Legal technologies, ‘state of exception’ and the dekinning of ‘war-babies’ in Bangladesh,” Childhood 14, no. 3 (2007): 346. 80 makeshift shelters to accommodate mothers and war babies.243 The government followed the Bangladesh Abandoned Children (Special Provision) Order and encouraged foreign adoption agencies to pay attention to the war babies. The first agency that responded was the American branch of the Geneva-based International Social Service. Other organizations that got involved are Families for Children and the Kuan-Yin Foundation (both in Canada), the Holt Adoption Program (US) and Terre des Hommes (Switzerland).244 Mother Teresa contributed massively to the adoption and care program of the war babies. Her organization Shishu bhaban was a drop-in centre where victims could give birth. This centre also facilitated many adoptions of those war babies.245 In traditional Muslim law, the adoption of abandoned children is prohibited. The Adoption Law was created in post-independence Bangladesh to provide socio-economic protection for these war babies. As with the legal complications with abortion, the adoption law also had to go through several modifications until it ensured smooth processing of foreign adoption cases.246 Mother Teresa and her foundation, Missionaries of Charity, and the Canadian non-profit adoption agency, Families For Children (FFC), successfully carried out the adoption process of many war babies who were sent to Canada. Canada was the first country in the world to take the first contingent of 15 war babies for adoption in July 1972.247 Some babies were also adopted by families from France and Sweden.248 243 Chowdhury, “War Babies of 1971,” 46. 244 D’Costa, “Victory’s.” 245 Mookherjee, “Available Motherhood,” 347. 246 Mustafa Chowdhury and Ishrat Shamim, Abandoned Children: Better Home Better Future (Dhaka: Centres for Training and Rehabilitation of Destitute Women, 1994), 5–6. 247 Chowdhury, “War Babies of 1971,” 52. 248 D’Costa, “Victory’s.” 81 Figure 6. A War Baby named Rajib adopted by a Canadian lady, “Ekatturer Juddhoshishu: Obidito Itihash”, © Mustafa Chowdhury. Used under Fair Dealing Exception. Although considered unwanted by social norms, not every victim wanted their babies to be given up for adoption. While interviewing victims, Nilima Ibrahim and Bina D’Costa discovered that some women were not eager to agree to adoption. They were crying for their babies, and workers had to give them sedatives in order to successfully remove them.249 Thus, these women were victimized again. The act of forcibly separating women from their newborns highlights the lack of agency these women had in postwar Bangladesh. This situation underscores the interconnectedness of silence and agency. Even in the rehabilitation centres 249 D’Costa, “Victory’s.” 82 where they were thought to be safe, they were forced to accept the decisions taken by the authorities. The social workers who were involved in those rehabilitation centres had no other option but to carry on with the abortion. D’Costa questions the attitudes and decisions of the social workers and argues that they also contributed to the silence of official history by keeping those victims’ traumas a secret. Their decisions reflect patriarchal values and state policies.250 Not every event is documented, not every archive is utilized, and not every story is incorporated into the writing of history. The moments of silence in any narrative about the past serve as a means to expose the underlying power dynamics.251 Given that Bangladesh still faces challenges with historical production, Trouillot’s fourth stage, the making of history, is relevant in this situation. The lack of documentation and information about the adoption of war babies carries a host of silences. For those babies who were not recorded, some of these photographs serve as their only material trace. These photographs also support those narratives that reveal the existence of these war babies and how they were given up for adoption. In addition to the silences created by all the war babies who were not recorded, these archival photographs detect those silences about victims whose babies were adopted without their consent. Abortion was a way to silence a horrible episode and retain some dignity in society for some women. Women who lost their babies through abortion and adoption were never included in the official history of the war. Their contributions and sacrifices remained invisible. The fate of these women and the children was never publicly acknowledged. This is still contextualized as a gendered shame that could hurt national prestige.252 250 D’Costa, “Birangona,” 85. 251 Michelle Caswell, Archiving the Unspeakable: Silence, Memory, and the Photographic Record in Cambodia (Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsis Press, 2014), 10. 252 Saikia, Women, war and the making of Bangladesh, 60. 83 Today, most of those adopted babies are not included in the history of war in Bangladesh. They have not been traced and any recorded information about them has not been maintained by the government or any other organization. The total number of war babies is still unknown, as is the number of babies adopted by foreign families. Accounts of their lives in the aftermath, of their adoption, or of their current state, are still missing. Unless any one of them wanted to visit Bangladesh personally in search of their roots, there are hardly any government initiatives to include them in the official historiography of Bangladesh. As a result, the collective memory of sexual violence remains incomplete and questionable because of an act of omission: the exclusion and erasure of information about war babies. In commemoration activities and narratives, certain facts are often ignored or silenced to promote misremembering. The complete marginalization of certain portions of the story is sometimes included in this process of silence. Such silence can sometimes take more subtle forms, such as issues that are raised in narratives but never fully explored or discussed.253 For Bangladesh, iconic photographs of war heroines and initiatives, such as the adoption and abortion projects related to the war babies, are full of silences that have facilitated forms of symbolic violence. The act of viewing photographs of biranganas entails the active participation of both the viewer and the subject, with the viewers taking on the role of retrospective witnesses. These photographs capture the process of remembering. Collectively, these elements constitute an archive of the process of preserving records, involving viewers as witnesses to the memories experienced by the victims. As a result, the narrative of the sexual assault of millions of women 253 Vinitzky-Seroussi, and Teeger, “Unpacking the Unspoken,” 1112. 84 in 1971 changes from one of victims to one of witnessing, with everyone remembering the brutality due to the widespread distribution of printed and digital photographs. Through replication, these photographs obtain a further existence, transforming into a powerful tool for advocating human rights and justice.254 Despite not having seen the conflict directly, the current younger generation can nonetheless perceive the helplessness of women and their experiences of extreme violence during the war through these photographs, which further influences their understanding of biranganas, but, importantly, these do not tell all the story, thus raising more questions about the ongoing economic and social injustice. 254 Caswell, Archiving the Unspeakable, 129–131. 85 Chapter Three: Silences in Archival Newspapers The newspaper is an influential and historically important institution that works as the carrier and representative of modern public consciousness.255 According to American sociologist Michael Schudson, news is a concept that is historically localized rather than a universal and timeless feature of human society. He suggests that news reports are social constructs just like rumours or historical novels. News reports are not a pure representation of reality, but rather a simplified and transformed version of the real world. This understanding highlights the subjective nature of news and the inherent limitations in its portrayal of events.256 Newspapers play an important role in producing diverse narratives based on the same event, highlighting how they shape our perception of reality. For example, when French people read about the historical Battle of Waterloo in their newspapers, they interpret the information presented to them differently than when English people read about the same event in their newspapers. This argument suggests that the newspaper not only delivers news as a medium but also shapes the mental landscape in which we live.257 The role of journalism in how news is constructed is closely related to the production of history, as some iterations of history are written by journalists. Newspaper articles written by journalists have always been considered invaluable primary sources in historical research. Like most other narrators, journalists have their own limitations within the boundaries of their profession. Media is unique in the sense that it can reach a wide audience and have a huge impact on a community. To understand how the past is made meaningful for the people in the 255 Michael Schudson, “Preparing the Minds of the People: Three Hundred Years of the American Newspaper,” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 100 (January 1991): 421. 256 Schudson, “Preparing the Minds of the People,” 421–423. 257 Schudson, “Preparing the Minds of the People,” 423. 86 media and how it circulates within political traditions, culture, and identity, one must explore the ways in which journalists use and reconstruct the past.258 The narratives presented in the media regarding historical events are far more detailed and emotionally symbolic compared to those presented in an educational setting. In addition, while the educational setting transmits historical knowledge through a systematic focus on presenting what are deemed objective facts, the media may foster personal and emotional associations with the past that are linked to collective memory or other elements of bias. The media reminds all of us about events at once. Popular institutions like museums, statues, or commemorative objects sometimes fail to do that. For this reason, not enough studies have been undertaken that connect historical memory formation and the role of media in this process.259 Currently, Bangladesh remembers the Liberation War that took place in 1971 in a variety of different ways. This event is not only the most significant episode in the history of Bangladesh, but also a significant event in South Asian history. Exploration of historical documents, such as newspaper articles, raises questions about gendered memory and public unease. The hidden and overlooked aspects of the past introduce moral and social complexities, prompting reflections on how history is perceived and remembered.260 In Bangladesh, discussing the victims of sexual violence during the war has been a sensitive issue for journalists, with representations in newspapers shaping new interpretations and highlighting the silence and violence endured by these women. These narratives contribute to a deeper understanding of the war’s impact and its lasting effects on biranganas in postwar Bangladesh. 258 Jill A. Edy, “Journalistic Uses of Collective Memory,” Journal of Communication 49, no. 2 (Spring, 1999): 71. 259 Edy, “Journalistic,” 72. 260 Saikia, Women, war and the making of Bangladesh, 3–5. 87 International and Bangladeshi newspapers have used diverse narratives to frame the 1971 Liberation War. Despite press restrictions imposed by the Pakistani government during the conflict, some local media sources in East Pakistan managed to report with caution on the atrocities being committed against innocent Bengali women in the war camps. When reporting those instances, they had to pay attention to their boundaries and use extra caution for information they might disclose. Meanwhile, the international media played a crucial role in disseminating information about the war and highlighting significant events. According to Muntasir Mamoon, almost every newspaper in the world published news about the war in Bangladesh, which aroused the conscience and sensibilities of people around the world.261 This chapter examines how postwar Bangladeshi newspapers portray the biranganas. Newspapers played a direct role in curating how the public perceives these women by intervening in the historical process of restoring their status as war heroines, which was often neglected by historians. Therefore, the chapter argues that, over the years, different patterns of silence can be found in newspaper articles related to these women. These patterns of silence, I suggest, can be understood by what Michel-Rolph Trouillot names “layers of silencing.”262 I have highlighted three specific decades of archival newspapers—the 1970s, 1990s and 2010s—to explore how both newspapers and the journalistic approaches undertaken prioritized the biranganas’ gender above everything and sometimes created new forms of silence through this representation. The 1970s are crucial for understanding how biranganas were depicted by the print media in the aftermath of war, with changes in political, cultural, and economic situations influencing their societal positioning. The 1990s witnessed a shift towards bringing biranganas 261 Muntasir Mamoon, “Foreword,” in Media and the Liberation War of Bangladesh, ed. Reaz Ahmed (Dhaka, Bangladesh: Center for Bangladesh Studies, 2002), 5. 262 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 44. 88 to justice after a period of silence, while the 2010s brought about official recognition for them, leading to increased coverage in newspaper articles. However, the 2010s also revealed a new layer of silence related to economic injustice. The political landscape of Bangladesh during 1975–1990 was characterized by assassinations, military coups, and shifting ideologies which contributed to a silent phase in newspaper reporting on biranganas. The assassination of Prime Minister Sheikh Mujib and his family in 1975 was a major political upset in post-independence Bangladesh. The assassination was committed by Sheikh Mujib’s close associates who harboured “pro-Pakistani” sentiments. After that, Bangladesh was under military rule from 1975 to 1990 under the subsequent leadership of General Ziaur Rahman and General HM Ershad.263 During this military period, there was an increase in the expansion of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as a surge in trade liberalization, greater international aid, and Islamization. General Zia prioritized the military’s responsibility in safeguarding national sovereignty, sanctioned the assassination of influential Awami League figures, and implemented changes to the constitution to underscore Bangladeshi citizenship rather than Bengali nationality. Moreover, Zia’s emphasis on the militaristic components of the 1971 war was evident in his focus on Islamic principles, economic reforms favouring private investments, and the reinterpretation of historical narratives. During the period of Zia and Ershad’s rule, Bangladesh’s political and cultural setting deliberately minimized the significance of historical events, such as the 1971 sexual violence and the plight of biranganas. These changes also gave rise to many religious fundamentalist political parties, such as the Jamaat-E-Islami and political figures who 263 Mookherjee, The Spectral Wound, 36–37. 89 actively collaborated with the Pakistani army in 1971 and opposed Bangladesh’s independence.264 Reports on the 1971 war and the sexual assault episodes that took place during that time were prohibited from being published in Bangladesh during the military period from 1975 to 1990. As a result, there are a limited number of newspaper clippings featuring biranganas available from this decade. During the 2000s in Bangladesh, political turmoil ensued as the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) won the national election in 2001 and formed the government. Due to their collaboration with Jamaat-E-Islami, religious violence increased in Bangladesh. This collaboration resulted in violent clashes with the Awami League and its supporters, exacerbating tensions stemming from Jamaat’s active role in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and allegations of war crimes. Following the completion of their term in 2006, BNP’s refusal to adhere to constitutional standards for holding the next election led to a state of emergency and the establishment of a caretaker government marked by the suspension of basic rights and suppression of opposition. The caretaker government’s extreme use of power resulted in a two-year delay in elections, exceeding the mandated 90-day limit. The Awami League achieved a notable victory in the 2008 election, thereby finally underscoring the unstable era of caretaker rule in Bangladesh.265 The media’s focus on current events during this period resulted in a lack of coverage on historical issues, such as the plight of biranganas in 1971, leading to another phase of silence. For this reason, I do not include an examination of newspaper articles from the 1980s and 2000s in this chapter. 264 Mookherjee, Spectral Wound, 37–38. 265 Umran Chowdhury, “How the caretaker lost political legitimacy,” Dhaka Tribune, July 21, 2023, https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/320772/how-the-caretaker-lost-political-legitimacy 90 First Layer: 1970s—Masculine Representations of the War The influence of the news media was significant during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. The newspapers of East Pakistan were vocal about the inhumane treatment of the Pakistani army. After the historic speech of March 7th by the leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Pakistani government directed military censorship over press activities as a strategy to control Sheikh Mujib and his followers. Within a few weeks, the Pakistani army launched a genocidal operation on March 26th, and Bangladesh declared independence. This announcement triggered the Pakistani government, and they destroyed the offices and printing presses of three leading dailies in Dhaka—Dainik Ittefaq, Sangbad, and The People—within a space of one week. They also attacked some other offices like Dainik Pakistan, Dainik Purbodesh, and Morning News and caused much destruction to the Dhaka Press Club. As a result of these attacks, many newspaper outlets shut down their activities, which had previously been very active and had raised their voice against the barbarism of the Pakistani army.266 Amidst the military-imposed press censorship, the Pakistani army directed Pakistani journalists to publicize their victories against the Bengali people. Anthony Mascarenhas, a Pakistani national, was the only journalist to resist this coerced news coverage. He rejected the order and exposed Pakistan’s brutality carried out on innocent lives. His report titled “Genocide” was published in the Sunday Times, UK and is considered one of the most credible sources on the genocide that took place in 1971.267 The report pointed to the sexual violence women endured in 1971. It says, “[w]omen were raped, or had their breasts torn out with specially fashioned 266 Helal Uddin Ahmed, “The role of press during Liberation War,” The Financial Express, March 25, 2022. https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/special-issues/independence-national-day/the-role-of-press-during-liberation-war-1585147416 267 Zahra Haider, “Media coverage and the War of 1971,” The Daily Star, December 15, 2015, https://www.thedailystar.net/lifestyle/spotlight/media-coverage-and-the-war-1971-187237 91 knives.”268 The widespread release of this study played a pivotal role in shifting global sentiment against Pakistan. Mascarenhas was able to attain a first-hand look at the atrocities being carried out against the Bengali civilian population. Eventually, he had to escape and flee to London to avoid the consequences of this reporting in Pakistan.269 The media in Bangladesh, particularly after independence, predominantly focused on portraying the 1971 Liberation War as the ultimate victory of the male fighters, largely overlooking the role of women in the conflict. As discussed in Chapter 2, the continuous secrecy and unwillingness to portray victims’ stories link back to the operation of patriarchal culture and the shame related to sexual violence in Bangladeshi society. Some newspaper articles have seemed to cover these women’s stories, but they used demeaning language in describing them. The use of demeaning gendered language such as “nirjatita” (the assaulted one), “obanchita” (unwanted), and “lacchita” (harassed woman) in those articles came up consistently. Such language was used to describe their experiences with harassment. On the other hand, language such as “bir” (brave), “biplobi” (revolutionary), “jodhya” (warrior), and “chironjib” (immortal) were used by newspapers to describe how men fought the war. In turn, such descriptions reinstated the ways in which victims of sexual assault are treated in patriarchal societies. In December 1971, the Bangladesh government declared that all women who had been subjected to sexual violence in the war would be referred to thereafter as biranganas. Almost all the national dailies published news related to this declaration. That news received significant public attention. This declaration also inspired many other women to come forward and speak up 268 Anthony Mascarenhas, “Genocide,” Sunday Times, June 13, 1971, https://www.cbgr1971.org/index.php/genocide/genocide-reports/9-genocideanthonymascarenhas 269 Haider, “Media.” 92 about their victimization. Given the fact that talking about sexual assault in public is taboo in a conservative society, this title had the potential to restore the victims’ status in society by prioritizing their official recognition as freedom fighters and providing them with potential employment opportunities. Unfortunately, after this initial coverage of wartime sexual violence, the media concentrated more on political issues and gravitated back to its more usual masculine approach in identifying freedom fighters of the 1971 Liberation War. The intention behind the implementation of the birangana terminology was to take care of the victims, especially the elderly and infants. It also recognized those women who fought the war with men, supported freedom fighters in many ways, and were forcibly impregnated. Bangladesh’s government wanted to honour these women and raise their status similarly to that of the fighting men. Unfortunately, due to social stigmas related to sexual assault and the fear of public shaming, many women opted not to be labeled as birangana. They remained silent and were excluded from government-initiated rehabilitation programs, which indicates another pattern of silencing. This title also isolated women’s experiences as sexual violence survivors from the national narratives of the ‘heroic’ tales of the war.270 Starting in 1972, the print media started publishing news reports on the political and economic struggles of a newly liberated country on a regular basis.271 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader, was still in jail at the time, and there was a widespread call among journalists for his release.272 The media predominantly showcased heroic tales of men and their role in the war, with little mention of the contributions of women freedom fighters or victims of sexual assault. 270 D’Costa and Hossain, “Redress,” 341. 271 Staff Correspondent, “Bastuharader jonno 30 koti taka,” Dainik Bangla, January 26, 1972, Liberation War Bangladesh e-archive, page 1 https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ 272 Staff Correspondent, “Bhutto’r dombho bhengechi, Bangabandu ke enechi,” Dainik Bangla, January 4, 1972, Liberation War Bangladesh e-archive, page 1 https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ 93 The front pages were filled with news related to political reforms and the bravery of men, featuring large photographs of freedom fighters and key political figures.273 Two articles were published in the Dainik Bangla newspaper, titled “Geye gelo jara jiboner joyogan”274 (they sang the victory song of life) and “Ekhono fereni jara”275 (those who have not returned yet), which explicitly highlight the courage of men in fighting the war. Both articles also had accompanying photographs of each individual. Informative articles that recognize individuals’ contributions to the war failed to feature women’s stories or their names. While some of the news content referred to sexual violence, it did not capture readers’ attention with corresponding photographs or comprehensive details. As an example, a write-up titled “Lanchito Maa-bon o shomaj” (harassed mothers and society) demands the rehabilitation of women who experienced sexual assault during and neglect following the war.276 It is noteworthy that this article uses the term “Lanchito” (translating in English to harassed), which is a gendered term, to represent the vulnerability and subordinate position of women in society. Additionally, this article was chosen to appear on page 4, representing the majority of other articles based on women that were not included on the front page. The news media’s exclusive coverage of men and focus on the political situation in the 1970s can be explained by dominant viewpoints that effectively silenced women. First, the lack of female victims’ stories in newspaper articles indicated that women were not politically involved in postwar Bangladesh. Women were often excluded from Bangladesh’s political 273 Staff Correspondent, “Engrezi noboborsher shubheccha,” Dainik Bangla, January 1, 1972, Liberation War Bangladesh e-archive, page 1 https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ 274 Staff Correspondent, “Geye gelo jara jiboner joyogan,” Dainik Bangla, January 22, 1972, Liberation War Bangladesh e-archive, page 4 https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ 275 Staff Correspondent, “Ekhoni fereni jara,” Dainik Bangla, January 22, 1972, Liberation War Bangladesh e-archive, page 4 https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ 276 Sadeka Sofiullah, “Lanchito Ma-bon o shomaj,” Dainik Bangla, January 18, 1972, Liberation War Bangladesh e-archive, page 4 https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ 94 sphere, and men dominated the country’s political leadership. Their agency was lacking. Thus, even though they were citizens of an independent country, these women continuously struggled for their own rights. Furthermore, with Sheikh Mujib’s assassination and the subsequent formation of two new military governments, many religious fundamentalist parties gained significant political influence. The new government deliberately suppressed the voices of biranganas to avoid causing discomfort to these pro-Pakistani political parties, such as Jamaat-E-Islami. Such political strategies added another layer of silence as biranganas continued to remain politically uninvolved. A noticeable pattern observed in newspapers starting in January 1972 indicates that advertisements applied motivational quotations to glorify men as freedom fighters. An advertisement published in The Bangladesh Observer on January 13, 1972 delivers the following message: “Our struggle did not go in vain.”277 Additionally, a photograph was included of men celebrating their triumph against the Pakistani army. A headline from Dainik Bangla in 1972 titled “Chironjib shohider smriti” (memories of immortal martyrs) depicts the memory of a freedom fighter who made the ultimate sacrifice in the battle.278 In Bangla, the term “chironjib” (immortal) symbolizes the enduring feelings of the sacrifices made exclusively by men. On the other hand, there is an absence of any headlines or advertisements that praise any woman who has been victimized by the violence directed against them. The newspapers exploited the use of gendered terms in their published articles on biranganas. The emphasis placed on their “gender” overshadowed their contributions and the 277 Staff Correspondent, “Our Struggle did not go in vain”, Bangladesh Observer, January 13, 1972, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra archive, Dhaka. 278 Mukhtar Ahmad, “Chironjib shohider smriti,” Dainik Bangla, January 24, 1972, Liberation War Bangladesh e-archive, page 8 https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ 95 sacrifices they made during the war. Despite being honoured with the title of “birangana,” women were often depicted inappropriately, with derogatory language used in some articles. While post-independence Bangladesh saw limited coverage of biranganas in newspapers, Dainik Bangla took a step forward by initiating a series of articles examining their lives after the war. However, even in these articles, gendered language was still prevalent. The first piece in the series included the heading “Nigrihita tumi Maa-go sara onge shaper chobol” (you are a neglected woman with snake bites all over your body).279 Here, the act of sexually harassing a woman is being compared to the harmful effects of venomous snake bites. In rural areas of Bangladesh, individuals who are bitten by a snake are abandoned by their family. Various superstitions associated with snake bites result in such abandonment. The majority of the victims die due to their injuries, as they are not immediately taken care of by a qualified medical professional following the attack. In the exact same way, biranganas were abandoned by their own family members and countrymen. The title here represents a woman who lacks support and recognition due to her status as a sexual assault victim. In addition, it introduces the gender-specific term “nigrihita,” that is “neglected,” as an example of the societal marginalization faced by women. The media also used derogatory headlines to portray biranganas’ stories. Another headline from Dainik Bangla series from January 31, 1972 is as follows: “Obanchita ontosotta tumi birangana” (unwanted pregnant biranganas).”280 This write-up tells the story of a victim who was impregnated by the Pakistani army. The newspaper tagged the victim as “obanchita” (in English unwanted). This attitude towards a sexually assaulted woman complicates and may also 279 Hasina Ashraf, “Maa-go tumi khoma koro,” Dainik Bangla, January 30, 1972, Liberation War Bangladesh e-archive, page 1, https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ 280 Hasina Ashraf, “Maa-go tumi khoma koro 2,” Dainik Bangla, January 31, 1972, Liberation War Bangladesh e-archive, page 1, https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ 96 compromise her recovery process. This language reflects symbolic power. According to Bourdieu, symbolic power influences how people use language and how they represent things.281 This outcome can result in the exclusion or stigmatization of specific groups, such as biranganas, while also reinforcing existing social hierarchies. Here, the media used symbolic power to shape public perception and maintain the inequality that biranganas experienced in society. Such representation reflects symbolic violence. After Bangladesh’s independence, Bangladeshi newspapers gave disproportionate weight to gender roles and sexual chastity while reporting on the casualties of the 1971 Liberation War. The victims’ recoveries and how everyone responded to their situation were significantly influenced by this portrayal. The negative representations of women in the media support the social belief that a woman’s value is determined by her chastity and that sexual harassment casts doubt on the victim’s character. In Bangladesh, a woman’s sexuality determines her wellbeing. When a woman is sexually assaulted, it is considered the death of her soul and social self. Bina D’Costa and Sara Hossain argue that the language used to describe how women experienced sexual violence in 1971 generally perceived the event as an offence against the honour of the state.282 Because of this, even if they were mentioned in the newspapers, the specifics of the lived experiences of these women were mostly missing from subsequent documents as well as in the collective memory of the event, as their symbolic connotations upset the celebration of male successes in the war. Sexual violence becomes more prevalent as a weapon in times of war when its importance is prioritized based on social assumptions and norms. Families and communities 281 Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power, 170. 282 D’Costa and Hossain, “Redress,” 333. 97 were not able to accept these victims because of the power dynamics of prevailing social standards. Furthermore, in an effort to avoid public shaming in post-conflict situations, victims opted to maintain their silence. This is because sexual assault and other related instances are often followed by feelings of shame, guilt, or fear of stigmatization on the part of the victim. In traditional social settings where rigid cultural norms related to sexuality and gender roles are prevalent, this problem is further multiplied. Moreover, reporting personal experiences of sexual assault is dangerous in post-conflict situations when political power dictates how these victims would be treated.283 Newspapers from the 1970s demonstrate another pattern of silence in the form of denial of justice. Journalists played a crucial role in bringing attention to the rehabilitation process for biranganas, leading to the establishment of rehabilitation centres by the government. These centres also arranged their marriages, trained them in vocational skills, provided shelter and ensured government jobs for them. But when a military coup happened in 1975, the political scenario changed. Consequently, newspaper articles from 1975 show fewer reports demanding the importance of rehabilitating sexual assault victims. At this point, less journalistic attention generated yet another layer of silence about the war heroines. This change affected the government-initiated freedom fighters’ certification too. The main text of the certificate was changed four times. The Home Ministry issued the certificate without the term birangana in it and no explanation was given why they removed it. These changes made by successive 283 Richard Traunmüller, Sara Kijewski, and Markus Freitag, “The Silent Victims of Sexual Violence during War: Evidence from a List Experiment in Sri Lanka,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 63, no. 9 (February 2019): 2016. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002719828053 98 governments in the 1970s had a crucial impact on the lives of biranganas and their rehabilitation process.284 Newspaper articles from the 1970s mark the difference between how male and female victims of the 1971 war were treated in postwar Bangladesh. Men were given the title of freedom fighters and their contributions were glorified in national dailies. On the other hand, biranganas were excluded from the mainstream public sphere. They were also abandoned by their families, communities, and the larger social structure. Because of such representation and ostracization, stories of male freedom fighters recreated the war in people’s minds. People remembered the history of 1971 as a war fought by men and celebrated their bravery. This representation exemplifies Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s perception of the history-making process. It suggests how history is engaged in the dual participation of knowing “what happened” and “that which is said to have happened.” In this case, the first meaning emphasizes the sociohistorical process of the 1971 war and the second meaning refers to the knowledge produced by that story which glorifies only men’s contribution to the war.285 Second Layer: 1990s—Rediscovering Silence In 1992, the issue of justice for sexual violence was brought to light, breaking the long silence around it. A civil society movement initiated the Peoples’ Tribunal for Trial of War Criminals and Collaborators, which is a remarkable event to demand justice for the crimes committed against women in the war. The peoples’ tribunal included several retired justices. Among the witnesses who came forward to provide testimony in front of a large audience were 284 Zobaida Nasreen, “Birangana’s constant struggle for recognition,” NewAge, December 16, 2016, https://www.newagebd.net/article/4924/biranganas-constant-struggle-for-recognition 285 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 2. 99 four biranganas. All of them were from a remote village in Jessore district. They spoke publicly about their sexual victimization by the Pakistani army.286 This was the first time any victim of such violence was publicly present and photographed. All four women were from ordinary Bangladeshi households. This means they had to go against all the hegemonic gender roles of rural society. It was a bold move for them to break the silence and speak up for the first time in public. Although they did not give consent to being photographed, the next day all the leading newspapers published photographs of the women detailing their victimization. This event was an extraordinary move because when these women appeared in public, the print media started covering their stories again regularly in newspapers. This incident served as a catalyst because it encouraged numerous other victims to come forward and share their tales and because it made the media aware of the need for more media coverage of these women. Nayanika Mookherjee argues that as the Bangladeshi press began to cover wartime sexual violence victims in the 1990s, the political trajectory of the birangana changed.287 Going back to those four victims, every daily newspaper published their photos and reported about their public appearance. The news received massive public attention. After the disclosure of their identities and experiences, the four women were virtually ostracized in their communities. Some of them were abandoned by their husbands. As a result, they chose not to speak about their victimization in public again. While the public exposure of these four women broke the prevalent silence, they encountered a new symbolic form of violence in their everyday lives. The photographs of these victims brought the topic of sexual violence in the 1971 Liberation War into mainstream Bangladeshi newspapers again. In fact, newspapers started 286 D’Costa and Hossain, “Redress,” 346. 287 Mookherjee, “The raped woman,” 4. 100 publishing their stories on the front page, which gave them significant attention and raised social awareness. Along with these developments, many social activists, for instance, Dr. Nilima Ibrahim, started documenting the oral testimonies of women victims in the 1990s. Inspired by such initiatives, a shift in newspaper articles can be detected. Many journalists took their own initiative and started reporting the personal stories of biranganas. This is how the 1990s saw the rise in public consciousness in addressing the sexual violence of 1971 and seeking justice against the collaborators. As stated in the outset of this thesis, Ferdousi Priyabhashini, a renowned sculptor, was among the first women to courageously admit in public that she had been sexually abused by Pakistani soldiers. While women’s experiences during and after the war differed, the public disclosure in the late 1990s of Ferdousi Priyabhashini can be regarded as a breakthrough moment in Bangladesh. The story received media attention and was published in newspapers and books, serving as an encouragement for numerous more women who had suffered the same fate to come forward and share their own stories. In a society that had historically pressured women to remain silent regarding their experiences, this position was remarkable. She received applause for her bravery and was held in high regard by everyone. Following that, Priyabhashini began assisting other women in sharing their personal stories and struggles with being accepted by society.288 Newspaper articles from 1995 demonstrate a significant rise in reports relating to biranganas. Journalists were involved in investigative reporting to trace sexual victims of the 1971 Liberation War across the country. The book Ami Birangana Bolchi by Nilima Ibrahim, which published the oral testimonies of victims, and sculptor Ferdousi Priyabhashini’s bold 288 Anam Zakaria, 1971 A People’s History from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India (India: Penguin Random House India, 2019), 325. 101 public declaration influenced such meaningful journalism. After 1995, some reporters started covering stories of these victims who lived in rural areas. Additionally, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra started their oral history project Narir 71 O Juddho Poroborti Kothho Kahini in 1996, providing another platform for rural biranganas to share their stories. All these actions taken by different individuals and organizations revealed many untold stories of biranganas across Bangladesh. It is important to note that changes in the political atmosphere also seem to be a key factor in this change. The Awami League government came into power in 1996 and started rewarding freedom fighters as well as initiating searches for biranganas. The other successive governments in power between 1975 and 1995 did very little to improve the condition of these women. This silent period of inaction created a vacuum in the history-making process in Bangladesh. The 1990s marked a period where efforts were made in the news media to un-silence the plight of biranganas. While progress was made in giving these women a voice and uncovering the silence that many victims had been living with, forms of layered silence persisted. By the hidden layers of silence, I refer to the struggles faced by rural biranganas who remained unidentified, public shaming faced by those who spoke out, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis they experienced. Third Layer: 2010s—The Official Recognition and Current Economic Injustice After developments in the 1990s, the news media in Bangladesh continued to publish articles on biranganas. However, after some time, the trend slowed. Finally, in 2015, after fighting for their rights and continuous struggles, 41 war heroines received official recognition as “Freedom Fighters” by the Bangladesh government.289 Although the number 41 is very low 289 Syed Samiul Basher Anik, “41 Birangonas get Freedom Fighter status.” 102 compared to the estimated number of victims, this was the first time in 45 years that these women received any official acknowledgment from the state. Social activists, writers, journalists, and many other organizations played important roles in fighting the long battle for war heroines’ official recognition. By giving these women official recognition, the decade of the 2010s signifies a critical turning point in Bangladeshi history. The historical production of biranganas and the 1971 Liberation War is filled with silence, even though receiving official recognition and making regular newspaper appearances can be considered significant steps towards justice and rehabilitation. One of the main facts about these women is that most of them were already over the age of 50 by the time they received official recognition. That means these women lived the better part of their lives in the utmost misery and stigmatization. The Jatio Muktijuddha Council (National Council of Liberation War) assured that they would recognize every war heroine in due course. In reality, the bureaucratic process of honouring each of them is time consuming and complicated. As a result, most of these women have passed away, and those who are still alive may not survive to see the honour bestowed upon them.290 This time lag between trauma and recognition signifies another layer of silence. It silences those women who passed away from old age, disease, and starvation, which are the consequences of inequality and the structural violence they experienced. All of these arguably less egregious violations of human rights limit the construction of new narratives. As Trouillot argues, “the production of traces is always the creation of silences. Some occurrences are noted 290 Taqbir Huda, “Biranganas: The liberators left unliberated,” The Daily Star, December 21, 2016, https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/society/biranganas-the-liberators-left-unliberated-1332943 103 from the start, others are not. Some are engraved in individual or collective bodies, others are not. Some leave physical markers, others do not.”291 A newspaper headline from the Janakantha (7 December, 2019) signifies the delay in getting recognition for biranganas.292 It reports that ten biranganas from Raninagar have finally received official recognition after a 48-year wait. The article also reveals that four out of the ten biranganas had already passed away before they received official recognition and the rest are currently facing challenges in their old age. In another article by Sangbad (7 December, 2019), it is reported that the four deceased biranganas from Raninagar were suffering from various health related problems but could not afford proper medical treatment because of the financial crisis.293 The daily newspaper Prothom Alo (17 June, 2019) reported that the process of gazetting294 the names of biranganas is complicated by spelling mistakes.295 Corruption, lack of people, misuse of power, and mismanagement in the project delayed the overall process of awarding official recognition and allocating compensation. The report also writes that it takes at least three to six months for a birangana to receive their complete compensation after it is issued by the ministry. An article by the Naya Diganta (21 December, 2015) highlights concerns about the challenges faced by biranganas in obtaining official recognition due to complex official procedures. Specifically, it mentions that thirteen out of eighteen women from Shirajganj received official recognition as freedom fighters, while five were excluded from the list without showing any 291 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 29. 292 Bishwajit Moni, “48 bochor por jutlo morjada,” Janakantha, December 7, 2019, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra archive, Dhaka. 293 Kazi Kamal Hossain, “48 bochore shopno puron,” Sangbad, December 7, 2015, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra archive, Dhaka. 294 Gazetting refers to the process of declaring biranganas names officially or publishing them in a list or record. 295 Staff correspondent, “89 jon biranganar naam e bhul, gazette-bhuktir prokria jotil,” Prothom Alo, June 17, 2019, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra archive, Dhaka. 104 reason.296 In another Naya Diganta (19 December, 2013) article, birangana Rabeya raises her concerns about the fraudulent forging of freedom fighter certificates, which has enabled numerous local collaborators to obtain recognition as freedom fighters. This issue is significant as it indicates that many biranganas lived their lives in misery, whereas many fake freedom fighters were able to list their names in the government record.297 The analysis of newspaper articles from the 2010s reveals another troubling layer of silence surrounding the economic injustices faced by biranganas despite their state recognition. Although background information on the sexual violence committed by the Pakistani army is crucial in interpreting the media representation of biranganas, these newspaper articles are concerned with the immediate needs of the survivors. Many newspaper articles from 2016–2019 show a pattern of reporting the current economic crises these women were going through despite their official recognition. The daily newspaper Shamakal (26 March, 2018) highlights the story of birangana Roma Chowdhury, who continued to face economic challenges. Following independence, she was forced to reside in isolated jungles due to societal exclusion. Even in 2018, Roma failed to rent a place due to poverty and struggled with her physical health. She was also admitted to the hospital with a severe medical condition. Roma received no support from the state, although her contribution to independent Bangladesh has been remarkable. She initiated a shelter house for children from all religious backgrounds with the money she earned from 296 Anjum Ara Begum, “Muktijoddhar shomman pelen birangana-ra,” Naya Diganta, December 21, 2015, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra archive, BAH22890, Dhaka. 297 Imam Mehedi, “Kemon achen Birangana Rabeya,” Naya Diganta, December 19, 2013, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra archive, BAH08067, Dhaka. 105 writing books.298 This is the story of many other biranganas who continue to live their lives in poverty and are deprived of basic needs. From an archival perspective, these newspaper clippings represent the persistent social, economic, and political activities surrounding victims of the 1971 sexual assault in Bangladesh. The crucial point here is that the state continuously neglected these survivors and deprived them of the basic rights they deserve as citizens. This is evidence of injustice. In addition to that, these newspaper articles perform the role of the social agent that shapes the way people understand an event, as they are shared and received by the readers. It is undeniable that no archive or institution, like the media, can restore everything. Silence is inevitable in the process of history making. But by selecting and deciding what types of information are being circulated and accepted by the people, institutions including newspaper media outlets hold an influential position in giving the production of history a definitive shape. According to Michel-Rolph Trouillot, unequal power structures generate and strengthen dominant historical narratives, and, in turn, these narratives hold “bundles of silences.”299 These silences also prevail in institutional practices. These existing “silences” determine how societies remember the past through a process of establishing and prioritizing certain narratives while marginalizing or silencing others. We may see how biranganas are remembered today through the examination of newspaper articles from three significant decades using these three layers of silence. It serves as a warning that in the face of more egregious forms of silence, unequal historical production influenced by power can produce new types of silence. According to 298 Swapon Kumar Mollick, “Basha bhara pacchen na birangana Roma Chowdhury,” Shamakal, March 26, 2018, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra archive, BAH36371, Dhaka. 299 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 27. 106 Trouillot, such silences refer to “the war within the war.”300 At the same time, the deliberate exclusion or consistent marginalization of specific voices from discussions has the potential to sustain social hierarchies. Silence and the marginalization of biranganas contribute to the maintenance of existing power structures and masculine dominance. They also support Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence by constituting a powerful and silent form of violence. 300 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 69. 107 Chapter Four: Silences in Published Oral Testimonies “I would love to see the day when a young man or woman of this generation will come to greet me as a brave warrior, the bearer of their national flag, and the protector of their motherland. I would love to see a smile of recognition on their faces. I know it is an impossible dream because I know that my contribution to the war and my existence as a war heroine are hidden from their knowledge. I know for sure that history has made it impossible for them to know of my existence.” - Excerpt from Rina’s Story in Ami Birangana Bolchi301 Rina, a Bengali girl from East Pakistan, belonged to a simple household where she lived peacefully with her parents and two siblings. She was studying Political Science at a university. Like many other college students, she had a loving family, a dream of achieving something great, and a boy whom she secretly fell in love with. Everything was going well until 1971, when the war broke out in Bangladesh. Rina’s parents were shot brutally in front of her eyes by the invading Pakistani army. An army officer took Rina with him to their army camp where she was kept as the personal slave of the officer. Rina was an educated, smart, and attractive woman in her twenties. She submitted herself to one army officer because she knew that it was better to submit to one man’s lust than to be victimized by multiple. Yet she could not save herself for long. She was sent to another camp where twenty other young women were kept in a congested room. Pakistani armies would bring new women and sexually violate them in front of everyone. After independence, Rina left the country for Pakistan.302 Rina’s decision to migrate to another country of her own free will came as a result of immense pain, betrayals from her own countrymen, and losing her close ones in the war. Some 301 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 79. 302 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 60–79. 108 fragments of her account indicate how she was being treated by her countrymen. She was attacked publicly when a group of little boys called her “Bengali whore.” She compared her fate with Lady Macbeth, as quoted by Nilima Ibrahim: “All the perfumes of Arabia were not enough to cover my crime.”303 Writer Nilima Ibrahim recorded Rina’s oral testimony. It was published in her pioneering book Ami Birangana Bolchi in 1992. In that book, Rina’s story along with six other victims’ testimonies provided a valuable source for understanding how the women have been subjected to unimaginable sexual violence in the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh and after. Until the 1990s, as we have seen, it was a rare occasion in Bangladesh to talk about biranganas. The continuous absence of this topic in mainstream media, classroom discussions, and in any other institutional setting has created an information vacuum in the minds of the people, which I refer to as collective forgetting or silence. After independence, a whole generation of Bangladeshi youth was being raised with literally no formal information about the victims. The oral history projects undertaken by Nilima Ibrahim and Ain-O-Salish Kendra in the 1990s emerged against the backdrop of this silence and have made significant steps in getting Bangladeshis to talk and learn about the victims of 1971. The oral testimonials of biranganas provide insight into the unspoken elements of the war that were not widely documented in Bangladesh until the 1990s. Their testimonies provide insight into hidden and forgotten memories of sexual violence, the challenges they faced as victims of such violence within a postwar conservative society, and the psychological misery 303 Ibrahim, A War Heroine, 60–61. 109 they endured. These stories highlight the extreme brutality of the violence and its profound impact on millions of women in East Pakistan, causing widespread anxiety. The initiative of oral history projects gives those victims a platform to speak and to literally raise their voices after decades of being silenced. By doing so, it connects others in the act of remembering the biranganas, although they were not directly involved or present in the war. Yasmin Saikia calls their testimonies the site on which violence and power were inscribed.304 Both intentionally and subconsciously, this process of connection to the war and female victims was woven into the public discourse in long-lasting ways, creating an active archive of group identification. In addition to the actions associated with honouring the women, their rehabilitation and media presence, speeches and published testimonies developed into a vibrant setting for the creation of such memories. For a significant period, the official history of the war remained inadequate due to the lack of primary testimonies from victims. Furthermore, the dominant narratives of the war documented by newspaper journalists, as discussed in Chapter 3, mostly emphasized external factors, such as military strategies, operations, political leaders, and combat operations. The lack of stories addressing sexual violence can be interpreted as both a symbolic and genuine silence. Consequently, the collective memory of the war encountered difficulties in adequately acknowledging the particular oppression of women, leading to a state of historical silence. Each of these oral history accounts provides insight into personal memories of sexual violence during the Liberation War of 1971. After the war, these women rarely spoke. Not many things were written publicly about them. The formal recording of their accounts by Nilima 304 Saikia, Women, war and the making of Bangladesh, 4–5. 110 Ibrahim and Ain-O-Salish Kendra unmasks the physical, psychological, and sexual violence these women experienced during the war. These narratives represent the untold stories and many unnoticed details of the war that reveal how long silences in history can be kept from the collective memory of a national event. Such personal testimonies provide evidence of the undocumented ones and bridge the gap between history and silence. In this chapter, I introduce the historical context of oral history projects on sexual assault victims of the 1971 Liberation War by reviewing theoretical notions related to memory and silence. I am relying on two published oral history projects here: Ami Birangana Bolchi by Nilima Ibrahim and Narir 71 O Juddho Poroborti Kottho Kahini by Ain-O-Salish Kendra. I examine the reasons for the silence and interpret how these published oral testimonies describe silence. By doing so, I explore the reasons why the stories of these victims were untold for a long time and how this silence gave rise to structural violence that is embedded in societal institutions. Through my analysis, I argue that personal and collective memories of wartime traumatic events like sexual assault are interconnected. Here, I refer to Maurice Halbwachs’s idea that “[c]ollective memory...encompasses individual memories while remaining distinct from them. It evolves according to its own laws, and any individual remembrances that may penetrate are transformed within a totality having no personal consciousness.”305 I argue that the individual’s memories through war heroines’ oral testimonies are combined with, and buried in, the collective memory of the war. This is why historical silence related to these women needs to be analyzed from both individual and collective perspectives. 305 Coser, On Maurice Halbwachs, 51. 111 Patterns of Silence in Published Oral Testimonies The first published oral testimonies of biranganas appeared in Nilima Ibrahim’s Ami Birangana Bolchi in 1994. The book is a masterpiece in the sense that it is the first published attempt to explore the severe effects of the 1971 war on women. Then, in 2017, Bangladeshi-American author Fayeza Hasanat translated the book into English under the title A War Heroine, I Speak for a larger audience. The book is divided into seven chapters. Each chapter represents the personalized accounts of seven biranganas. The seven chapters are worth referencing in full in recognition of each woman who told her story: Chapter 1, Mrs. T. Nielsen; Chapter 2, Meherjaan; Chapter 3, Rina; Chapter 4, Shefali; Chapter 5, Maina; Chapter 6, Fatema; and Chapter 7, Mina. The book bravely addresses the use of sexual violence as a “weapon of war” and reveals the manner in which it has been used to forge national identity. These narratives reveal the various consequences of wartime conflicts and unearth layers of memory, trauma, and silence. Some of the accounts of victims detect those silent outcomes that are often ignored. One key aspect of such memory and silence is found in the instances where women describe their everyday lives and the pain hidden in daily occurrences. Apart from their traumatic experience of sexual violence, such accounts unmask how silences are created in ordinary daily life settings that influence the collective remembering of the violent past by forming new patterns of memories. The fact that being a victim of wartime sexual violence separated women from social structures like marriage, kinship, and friendship was one of the post-event traumas that can be identified in the tale of the war heroines. This is an additional form of violence that women routinely encounter, and it is intricately connected to the historical silence that has long dominated the lives of biranganas. 112 Several of these narratives also highlight the personal suffering these women experienced as a result of their victimization. Many were abandoned by their families when the war ended. Parents, husbands, and relatives rejected them due to societal and cultural prejudices. Emotionally, this rejection was hard for these women. Many victims died by suicide and many others suffered from prolonged psychological illness.306 In Nilima Ibrahim’s book, Tara’s story exemplifies the pain of losing emotional connections with loved ones. Tara’s father, despite visiting her regularly at a rehabilitation centre, refused to take her back home due to the shame her presence would bring to the family. This rejection shattered the bond between father and daughter, reflecting the deep personal losses experienced by many biranganas. Tara testifies: I observed many relatives of victims visiting the rehabilitation centre to meet them while I was there. They refused to take their wives, children, or sisters back home. The majority of them were Muslims. I can remember an army officer who fought in the war as well. He told his wife that he would send her a monthly allowance but would not be able to bring her back home. Even if that army officer receives a promotion after the war, his wife will still need to struggle for her own existence.307 A similar pattern can be seen in Mayna’s story. Her father was humiliated by the family of her future groom when they learned about Mayna’s sexual victimization during the war. Out of anger and shame, Mayna’s mother slapped her and blamed her for causing so much humiliation. She cursed her saying that it would be better for them if she had been killed in the war rather than carrying her “violated” body into their house.308 Mayna testifies: I feel numb now. In spite of all the mischief I got up to as a child, I don’t recall my parents ever raising their hands on me. My entire body is in a fury. Not because of the physical pain, but because of the insult that I did not deserve.309 306 Mustafa Chowdhury, “Rape and Sexual Servitude in ‘Occupied Bangladesh’,” in Genocide and Mass Violence: Politics of Singularity, ed. Imtiaz Ahmed (Dhaka: Centre for Genocide Studies, 2019), 1–28. 307 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 34. 308 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 116–117. 309 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 117. 113 Many victims’ decisions to immigrate to other countries, including Pakistan, following independence highlight an additional form of silence. Due to the unfair treatment they received from their fellow Bangladeshis in the newly independent Bangladesh, some women decided to leave the country for good. In Rina’s testimony, she indicates that Pakistanis did not force her to migrate. She recounted with immense pain, that the Bengali people present at the time the Indian army pulled them from a bunker while they were barely conscious and exposed, directed taunts at them and treated them with hostility.310 Such traumatic experiences seriously weakened victims’ self-confidence, leading them to take the hard decision of permanently leaving their home country. Despite making significant sacrifices, many of them were excluded from becoming a part of the new nation due to their contributions being publicly denied. Rina raised her concern about the exclusive recognition given to men for their involvement in the war, as well as the naming of government infrastructure only after men who fought in the war. Additionally, she questioned why the stigma and rejection should befall only Bangladeshi women when numerous victims of sexual violence in other conflicts around the world were able to describe their experiences without encountering similar consequences.311 Some of these accounts reflect how biranganas choose to live their lives in silence. Even after independence, some victims consciously chose to move to Pakistan with the offender because they believed that the newly independent Bangladesh would treat them as “sinners.” By settling in Pakistan, they are essentially rejecting the new nation of Bangladesh. This was both a controversial and brave decision for these women. Such a choice calls into question the nation’s 310 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 60. 311 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 70. 114 independence after all the sacrifices made in the war. When Tara migrated to Denmark and visited Bangladesh after many years, she stated: The country has become independent. Some Ghazi— some martyrs. Some are Birsrestha,312 some are ministers, some are ambassadors—all have respect and fame. And me? I did not want anything, I wanted only the dignity of my womanhood and shelter in the bosom of my beloved motherland. Tara Banerjee is dead now; therefore, I don't really exist in this nation. That day Miss T Nielsen (Tara’s new identity) and Thomas’s (Tara’s son) mother received all the honours. Where am I? I am despised by them.313 Although the nation achieved freedom, it failed to give these women a safe place to live or call home. In turn, they gave up their Bangladeshi identity and accepted new names and identities, which added a new layer of silence to the historiography. Drawing from Galtung’s concept, this is structural violence, where the inequality built into structures shifts violence from the visible to the invisible by indirectly pushing these women into migration.314 The rehabilitation scheme established by the government in post-independence Bangladesh furthers silences. In the process of rehabilitating these women, the government decided to compensate them. The main goal of this compensation program was to restore their honour in society by making them financially stable. However, several oral testimonies prove that the compensation was not enough and sometimes the money was misused by their close family members. From Tara’s accounts in Ami Birangana Bolchi, it is revealed that Tara’s brother confessed to her about them fixing their house with the compensation Tara had received from the government. Although they fixed their home with her compensation, she was forbidden 312 The word Birsrestha is a title which means “The Most Valiant Hero.” It is Bangladesh’s highest military honour. Seven freedom fighters (men) who showed the highest level of bravery and sacrificed their lives in the line of duty received it. They are considered Martyrs. 313 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 34. 314 Galtung, “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research,” 171. 115 to enter that home.315 These testimonies reflect how the compensatory justice that the government implemented ultimately benefited men and their families, rather than biranganas. Women had to face social ostracization, neglect, and personal loss. Thus, the compensation policy benefited men who continued to exploit these victims. Similarly, the policy backfired by inducing more public hatred toward these victims.316 The oral testimonies of these victims reveal that, despite the government of Bangladesh taking many steps to address their needs and offer them financial support, their goal was not met. After the conflict, many victims in Bangladesh had to endure abject poverty and misery. The account of Amirjan in Narir 71 O Juddho Poroborti Kottho Kahini suggests that her family suffered total loss because of the war. The Pakistani army set their home on fire. They had to sell their land in order to survive. Amirjan states, Two calves were given to us by the government in two years. And every year in the month of Chaitra (the last month of the Bengali year), Muktijoddha Songsad (an association of Freedom Fighters) gives us a piece of cloth. They took photos many times, but nothing happened. I also applied for government compensation.317 In 1971, many women were sexually violated by Bengali men who assisted the Pakistani army in the war and worked against the independence of Bangladesh. These men were mainly local collaborators who revealed key information to the Pakistani army. From the oral accounts of many victims, it is evident that these Bengali men also took part in the sexual violence committed against women. Not only did they inform the enemies about households in which young females resided, but they also became a part of the crime committed against women. Tara’s testimony reveals that the first man to humiliate her physically was a Bengali. She 315 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 23. 316 Saikia, Women, war and the making of Bangladesh, 56. 317 Akhtar, Begum, Hossein, Kamal and Guhathakurata, Narir Ekattor, 246. 116 explains her utter shock and frustration when she found out that a Bengali man had violated her sexually instead of rescuing her.318 In Meherjan’s testimony from Chapter 2, it is evident that Bengali men gave information about Meherjan’s whereabouts to the Pakistani army.319 Meherjan later slams the hypocrisy of the Bangladeshi public in the aftermath of the war, who blamed those women for being victimized and never questioned the ill motives of these Bengali men.320 Here, the representation of women in a patriarchal society once again comes into play. The men who made significant contributions to the war were celebrated as heroes. Those who openly supported the enemies, opposed achieving the goal of independence, and engaged in acts of sexual violence remained hidden from the wider community. It was women who had to pay the price, both during and after the war. Another silence can be identified if we look at the introduction to Nilima Ibrahim’s book from its second edition. After publishing the oral testimonies of victims in two parts, Ibrahim’s main aim was to work on the third part. But she decided not to continue with the third part. There were two reasons behind this. Firstly, it was a challenging task for her to continue to work on such a traumatic topic. Secondly, she was utterly disturbed and doubtful about the conservative attitude of the public in Bangladesh. According to her, society was a lot more conservative between 1975 and 1995 than it was in 1972.321 Bina D’Costa writes about how the culture of impunity in Bangladesh emerged after the war ended.322 Even though Bangladesh became liberated from Pakistan as a result of the war, power structures, political reforms, and the country’s strained political and cultural ties to Pakistan continued. Conservative political groups 318 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 11. 319 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 37. 320 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, 44. 321 Ibrahim, Ami Birangana Bolchi, introduction. 322 D’Costa, “Birangona,” 73. 117 and individuals that worked in favour of the Pakistani government during the war were able to re-establish a power base and legitimacy. As a result, an inevitable struggle for power began in the political climate of postwar Bangladesh. Eventually, through disagreements among liberation leaders and government’s heavy reliance on the Middle East for political and economic matters, a culture of impunity developed.323 In this conservative climate, people did not even hesitate to label those victims as “sinners.” The publication of untold narratives by victims could potentially lead to public attacks and repeat victimization. Ibrahim’s reluctance to publish another part of the book reflects the changing attitude in the public’s behaviour towards the birangana in post-independence Bangladesh. Even after publishing the oral narratives in the 1990s, there remained a layer of silence regarding the war heroines that prohibited writers, publishers, or activists from carrying on the work to collect oral testimonies. Fear of such a public response stem from the difficulties that a number of women encountered in the early 1990s following their testimony in public court. It was a brave and extraordinary attempt by those victims to speak about their victimization and struggles. Their public appearance motivated many other individuals and organizations to trace biranganas from rural backgrounds in the later part of the 1990s. However, these victims faced public taunts when they went back to their village after the event. War heroine Masuda’s husband, Mofiz testifies that: As a result of going to public court, they had to be humiliated by the people. The youth did not know about the incident before, but now they do. It has become dishonourable for us. Everyone now disrespects us.324 323 D’Costa, “Birangona,” 73. 324 Akhtar, Begum, Hossein, Kamal and Guhathakurata, Narir Ekattor, 166. 118 Further, Dulzannessa states in her testimony: People found out about my past after I returned from Dhaka, where the Public Court was held. Then society turned its backs on us. They deserted us and then asked, why did we go to Dhaka for this? Everything was reported in the newspapers. It made us feel more stigmatized.325 People do not just take in popular collective understanding, they mold it into their own life narratives, and then answer the interviewer’s questions in oral history. Individual recollections and popular depictions of past events have discrepancies and tensions, which may become apparent during an interview. It is a challenge to navigate these. Respondents in these situations could feel uneasy because they are unable to connect their personal experiences with the dominant narrative.326 For example, when women victims were interviewed for the oral history projects by Nilima Ibrahim and Ain-O-Shalish Kendra, the dominant narrative of the 1971 war mostly glorified men and other political tactics. Here, these victims’ personal narratives were contradictory to these dominant narratives. Many instances in both books reflect that some of these interviewees were hesitant to share their experiences as survivors of sexual violence. This leads to an interpretive gap between national memory and personal accounts of war heroines, which also clearly points out the persistent silences in the dominant narrative. Intersubjectivity Leading to Silence In oral history, intersubjectivity impacts the outcome or memory formation of the event. Lynn Abrams points out the basis of oral history theory, stating that there are two subjectivities present during an interview that interact to create intersubjectivity, which is evident in the narrator’s words.327 By adopting the available cultural constructions in public discourse, the 325 Akhtar, Begum, Hossein, Kamal and Guhathakurata, Narir Ekattor, 179. 326 Lynn Abrams, Oral History Theory (London: Routledge, 2016), 69. 327 Abrams, Oral History Theory, 54. 119 interviewee in oral history projects creates an identity, or in other words, a subject position for themselves. According to Abrams, intersubjectivity refers to the interaction between the subjective experiences of the interviewer and interviewee. More than that, it explains how each person’s subjectivity is molded by their interaction with others. Put simply, it symbolizes the way individuals interact during an interview and how they work together to develop a shared narrative.328 An unmediated narrative, a transparent oral portrayal of past experience, does not exist. The interviewee may well be conscious of the audience to which he or she is speaking, which may influence what is said and how it is said. It also shapes the way an oral history interview is conducted. This is similar to how the interviewer forms an impression of the interviewee. Also, the narrator’s identity, lived experience, and personal memories shape the way events are remembered.329 It is possible that the narratives constructed by these women were inextricably shaped by their personal memories, or cultural and social influences when they told their stories. Interviewees may selectively remember information, highlighting particular aspects of their experiences while missing out on others. Abrams further explains that within the oral history community it is now recognized that the interviewer plays an active role in shaping their own perspective, while the respondents deliberately create “suitable performances” in response.330 This implies that intersubjectivity can be viewed as a continuous process that shapes the interviewing process. The interviewers’ capacity to actively involve and explore both their own perspectives as researchers and the perspectives of those who participated is crucial in interpreting the influence of these interactions 328 Abrams, Oral History Theory, 54. 329 Abrams, Oral History Theory, 54–55. 330 Abrams, Oral History Theory, 58. 120 on the narrative being formed.331 Returning to silence, oral history initiatives on the birangana, therefore, exclude the things that interviewees did not say and the questions that the interviewer chose not to ask. The interviewer extracts a narrative from the person who recounts their story through word, action, and expression during the interview. An interviewer with a different background might request significantly different responses, possibly resulting in the construction of an entirely different narrative.332 Moreover, the way these oral testimonies are published is different from mere interview scripts. Both projects followed a story-telling approach where each victim is presented as the main protagonist in every chapter. These overlapping perspectives raise questions about the missing information that has been lost during those interviews. The narrated stories are therefore partial or, at the very least, a version of the past constructed within a particular setting and with a particular goal of making them public. Thus, only those sections selected by the editors and authors for publication are presented to readers. At this point, the gap is apparent, which also signifies an additional layer of silence. It is likely that some information from the interview was accidentally or deliberately removed between the time those narratives were created and the book was published. Consequently, the narratives of war heroines are shaped by the intersubjective effects of oral history. Distorted Memories of the 1971 War The oral history projects by Nilima Ibrahim and Ain-O-Salish Kendra were both completed in the 1990s. There was a period of silence regarding biranganas between 1972 and 331 Amy Tooth Murphy, “Listening in, listening out: intersubjectivity and the impact of insider and outsider status in oral history interviews,” LGBTQ+ Lives: History, Identity and Belonging 48, no. 1 (Spring 2020): 35. 332 Abrams, Oral History Theory, 58. 121 1990, as mentioned in the previous chapters. Due to the time span between the actual event and the oral interview, memories may have become unclear or distorted, leaving the interpretation flawed. Nonetheless, interview testimonies can be used to investigate the effects of past experiences on people’s lives and identities.333 Previous experiences can have an impact on participants, and their significance changes over time. Similarly, public representations of the past, found in such media as books, movies, political discourse, and folktales, have an impact on individual remembering, which in turn shapes collective or social memories. Powerful public memories influence feelings and perceptions of the past and present, sometimes silencing unfit memories or offering alternatives to addressing the past.334 In its early stages, oral history’s methodologies faced significant criticism. In the 1970s, the fundamental argument against oral history was that memory was an unreliable source for history. Critics claimed that physical deterioration and nostalgia from old age made the medium unreliable. Many oral historians started to re-evaluate the unreliability of oral history in the late 1970s and started to see it as a strength instead of a weakness.335 Alessandro Portelli argued that as events occur and people or groups live on in memory, the distorted memory becomes a crucial factor in figuring out the implications of previous events for individuals and for the community. He stated that “what is really important is that memory is not a passive depository of facts, but an active process of creation of meanings.”336 Oral history, then, is more than just “the voice of the past,” according to Alistair Thompson. It is a dynamic account of how the past and present interact within each person and in society as a whole. Oral history tries to unlock that 333 Alistair Thompson, “Unreliable memories? The use and abuse of oral history,” in Historical Controversies and Historians, ed. William Lamont (London: Routledge, 1998), 27. 334 Thompson, Unreliable memories, 27. 335 Thompson, Unreliable memories, 26–27. 336 Alessandro Portelli, “What Makes Oral History Different,” in Oral History, Oral Culture, and Italian Americans, ed. Luisa Del Giudice (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 29. 122 relationship between the past and about the meaning of the past in the present.337 When it comes to making sense of significant events and history in general, Portelli contends that faulty recollections are not the problem, rather meanings that are actively constructed by memory and imagination create misunderstandings in interpreting historical events. Memory, in short, is the interplay between what we remember, how we remember it, and why we remember.338 Although memory is a vital instrument for remembering the past and making sense of it, it is unfortunately highly susceptible to distortion and error. Therefore, it is important to understand memory errors that can transform what “was” into what “appeared to be” and shape both individual and collective history. Oral history depends exclusively upon memory and deals with the reconstruction of the past. Inevitably, it can be argued that oral history serves to reiterate a distorted recollection of the past. Arguably, the first telling of a past experience can be imperfect. It carries the gist of the experience but fails to accurately capture many of the details.339 An individual’s memory can have a significant impact on their recollection of a shared experience. This is why collective memories of the same event differ greatly among individuals and perspectives. These different understandings sometimes lead to different memories of the same event.340 In the case of the war heroines from Bangladesh, Nilima Ibrahim started the first oral history project roughly 20 years after the country gained independence. All seven women she interviewed were either teenagers or in their 20s during the war in 1971. In 1992–93, when their first oral accounts were recorded, they were in their mid-30s or 40s. There had been a significant 337 Thompson, Unreliable memories, 27–28. 338 Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli, 26. 339 Daniel M. Bernstein, Veronika Nourkova and Elizabeth F. Loftus, “From Individual Memories to Oral History,” in Advances in Psychology Research, ed. Alexandra M. Columbus (NY: Nova Science Publishers Inc., 2008), 158. 340 Bernstein, Nourkova and Loftus, From Individual Memories to Oral History, 171. 123 gap of more than twenty years since they spoke up about their experiences in a formal setting for the first time. Although Ibrahim’s work is pioneering in the sense that she was able to break decades of silence through her project, there is still a layer of silence in the data collected and published. The same goes for the oral history project by Ain-O-Salish Kendra. This layer of silence questions the remembering process of these victims, which may also influence how the event is understood today. Memory distorts with age and time. There is a possibility that when these victims were interviewed, they had already lost a fraction of their memories about their experience of sexual violence and its consequences. Although a traumatic past can have an everlasting impact on the lives of the victims, it is the small details about that event that can be forgotten. In that sense, the published oral testimonies might be missing some small but important details in their accounts of 1971. These omissions, most of the time, are unintentional. Such missing information can lead to gaps in the historical record, resulting in silence regarding specific aspects of the past. For example, Roison’s testimony by Ain-o-Salish Kendra exemplifies such small details that are lost. When she was describing her story, she clearly mentions: I exactly do not remember the month when it happened. But I do remember it was an afternoon.341 Similarly, Mohini in her testimony also failed to recall the exact time when that event happened to her.342 In another testimony, Birangana Chakma confessed that she had forgotten many things about the war, as many years had passed.343 341 Akhtar, Begum, Hossein, Kamal and Guhathakurata, Narir Ekattor, 131. 342 Akhtar, Begum, Hossein, Kamal and Guhathakurata, Narir Ekattor, 94. 343 Akhtar, Begum, Hossein, Kamal and Guhathakurata, Narir Ekattor, 96–97. 124 The oral testimonies of individuals from different age groups may vary significantly based on their life experiences and worldviews. The women whom Nilima Ibrahim and Ain-O-Salish Kendra interviewed come from a variety of age groups and backgrounds. Although they all experienced the same traumatic event, they experienced it differently. Human beings filter their understanding of events through the lens of their personal experiences. The time gap, along with these differences, modifies how someone remembers and understands an event. When these victims’ accounts were recorded, they were going through postwar struggles in their personal lives. These new forms of victimization may have increased the scope of the overdramatization of the actual event through their testimonies. They might forget important details that can create a gap in a full understanding of history. Furthermore, speaking is a difficult task for many survivors, especially survivors of sexual violence.344 For them, the moment of violence is fractured and dispersed. They fail to retrieve the memory accurately because they already know that it is not possible to recapture their loss and dehumanization. There is a point of unforgettable memory in them that is inaccessible, lingers in the background, and is not spoken. These women have pushed their memories of the war into a remote site, creating silence and forcing forgetfulness. The patriarchal social structure and other agents of gender-based violence have forced them to internalize the violence and endure it over the years.345 Shaheen Akhtar, one of the interviewers for the Ain-O-Salish Kendra project writes about the inconsistency of these victims’ testimonies. While interviewing Ferdousi Priyabhashini, Akhtar noticed the fact that her description did not follow any orderliness and kept changing each day. She also states that Priyabhashini’s life had 344 Freedman, “Not a Word Was Said Ever Again,” 7. 345 Saikia, Women, war and the making of Bangladesh, 52. 125 been so eventful each day during the war that it was difficult for her to maintain a consistent process of recall.346 Oral testimonies are used across many disciplines to tell stories about wartime sexual assault victims and their sacrifices for others. Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s ideas about the inconsistencies of fact retrieval or the creation of narratives shed light on these testimonies. Trouillot argues that creating these narratives can be a moment of silencing, too. In the process of storytelling, the retrieval and recollection of facts proceed unequally. According to him, any storyteller is selective. They include some facts while excluding others. Some events or facts are emphasized at the expense of others.347 In this framework, it is apparent that some facts are lost in these oral testimonies while the survivors emphasize other facts. Missing Primary Transcripts and Undocumented Narratives Document preservation is very important for addressing historical silence. When oral transcripts are not preserved, it can result in the loss of valuable historical information and the voices of those who experienced sexual violence during the war. When I went back to Bangladesh to gather my data, I learned that the oral transcripts of these testimonies, which are the primary sources of each project are not preserved in any archives. The lack of preserved oral transcripts or the original recordings is due to various reasons, including lack of maintenance, political circumstances, challenges in archiving testimonies, or issues related to access and preservation. Transcripts provide a complete and accurate record of what was said during the interview and how questions were directed to interviewees. As these transcripts are missing, historians 346 Akhtar, Begum, Hossein, Kamal and Guhathakurata, Narir Ekattor, 134. 347 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 53. 126 have no choice but to rely on other secondary sources, such as published testimonies, accounts, or recollections to verify sources. As discussed earlier, published testimonies can be subjective, which makes them less reliable or sometimes biased. The absence of transcripts can result in conflicting interpretations of the stories told by the survivors leading to historical silence and an incomplete collective understanding. While published oral testimonies of biranganas are being used to spark narratives that counter historical silences, they also trigger another series of silences: stories of victims that were never told, victims that were not documented, and records that were never preserved in archives. The missing narratives create silence in facts about the sexual violence of 1971. This silence causes an omission in the collective memory of those who were never documented. 127 Conclusion The sacrifices made by biranganas rank among one of the most horrific events in history. The hard work and dedication of several human rights activists (including Nilima Ibrahim, Yasmin Saikia, Nayanika Mookherjee), NGOs like Ain-O-Salish Kendra, institutions like the Liberation War Museum, and many other individual researchers have been able to address the silence in some of the women’s memories through different archival methods. But the larger silence that prevailed shortly after independence created a vacuum both in society and historical knowledge production. However, there is a risk that more urgent but relatively less egregious types of human rights violations will go unnoticed if we construct the experiences of the victims of the 1971 women’s movement through individual narratives where a large number of victims are absent. The recollections of the lost ones—those who were killed by the Pakistani army, committed suicide out of humiliation, who never acknowledged they were victims of the 1971 war, or those who emigrated—can be altered by this selective and limited perspective. To create a shared account of the event, such silence must be addressed because it is harmful to the process of building history. As Trouillot states, archival silences: … are created. As such, they are not mere presences and absences, but mentions or silences of various kinds and degrees. By silence, I mean an active and transitive process: one ‘silences’ a fact or an individual as a silencer silences a gun. One engages in the practice of silencing. Mentions and silences are thus active, dialectical counterparts of which history is the synthesis.348 These facts and silences need to be acknowledged and brought forth from the past into the future, in order to ensure that they will not be permanently erased. 348 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 48. 128 This thesis has explored the concept of historical silence and how it is present in a variety of sources related to the biranganas. As a result of their marginalization and alienation in Bangladesh after 1971, these women have been driven to the margins of historical scholarship and the archival record, giving a hazy impression of their experiences. This thesis has examined a few published works and preserved historical documents in order to highlight the difficulties that academics, writers, social activists, and institutions have encountered in their attempts to give biranganas the recognition they deserve. There is a great deal of value in works that highlight the politics of silencing biranganas and their subject statuses, despite the limits of the many works analyzed in this research. The thesis focuses on addressing issues related to memory and power in order to fill gaps in the development of narratives, establish historical archives, and commemorate undiscovered aspects of the 1971 Liberation War. Biranganas in Bangladesh have been silenced and suppressed as a direct result of the presence of a culture of shame, which has impacted the way these women were victimized. The cultural context, shaped by historical, social, and political norms, facilitated the targeting of biranganas by the invading Pakistani army in 1971 and their subsequent subjugation by their countrymen in post-independence Bangladesh. The culture of shame plays a significant role in shaping women’s behaviours and choices in various aspects of their lives, such as public participation. In Bangladesh, where honour and reputation are deeply embedded in religion and of social importance, shame has been used as a mechanism by powerful actors, especially men, to manipulate public perception and silence the stories of biranganas. As a result, their silence maintained the dominant position of powerful actors in the social hierarchy. When birangana-related concerns are traced back to their historical and published sources, silence and actions of silencing are revealed during the initiation, creation, and 129 transformation of historical materials into archives. The sources give Bangladeshis and the rest of the world the ability to see the atrocities committed by the Pakistani army and some Bengali soldiers and to create compelling proof to commemorate the past through these numerous methods. In more recent times, these women, activists, and different organizations have used these sources to publish books, make documentaries, produce films, and other works that convey stories of the unknown past. The historical sources are being incorporated by these actors, who also include the survivors, into fresh recordings that capture the act of remembering. In order to create new records that capture the act of remembering, these performers, who also include the survivors, are combining historical sources. Recent initiatives, such as officially recognizing the biranganas, dedicating a complete gallery in the museum to commemorate them, and scholars’ efforts to document their stories, serve as a reminder of the sexual assault in 1971 and involve the younger generation in the process of recreating memories. In the face of a local and global political environment that encourages forgetting, these sources or records uphold human rights by arguing that the violence occurred, that it should be remembered, and that it should not be repeated in the future. As demonstrated consistently in this thesis, despite the presence of silence, these materials function as agents of remembering. In conclusion, let us revisit the War Heroine Ferdousi Priyabhashini’s story from the introduction. Her accounts have been used in a variety of ways to convey the untold tales of the atrocities women endured throughout the conflict. As seen in her oral testimonies and interview excerpts, Ferdousi Priyabhashini here serves as a symbol of courage for all those who have experienced sexual assault. Her tale serves as an enduring representation of all those women who endured sexual violence, torture, and social rejection. Priyabhashini’s testimony and brave public appearance continue to inspire Bangladeshis to tell their own unique stories and to preserve and 130 make available collective Bangladeshi narratives about the past, even as the association of Priyabhashini with all other victims of the violence silences both those whose stories were never told and those who chose to remain unnoticed due to social stigmas. The testimonies of Priyabhashini and others like hers are being used to honour the survivors and victims, hold the guilty accountable, and serve as witnesses to genocide. 131 Bibliography List of Archival Newspapers: Ahmed, Mukhtar. “Chironjib shohider smriti,” Dainik Bangla, January 24, 1972. Liberation War Bangladesh archive. Ashraf, Hasina. “Maa-go tumi khoma koro.” Dainik Bangla, January 30, 1972. Liberation War Bangladesh e-archive. https://www.liberationwarbangladesh.org/ Ashraf, Hasina. “Maa-go tumi khoma koro 2.” Dainik Bangla, January 31, 1972. 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Thesis/Dissertation
eng
Interdisciplinary Studies
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Graduate
Carlyle, Margaret Eileen
Simonetto, Deana
Violence in silence : the plight of birangana in post-independence Bangladesh
Text