51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø

In August 1947, the British Empire in the subcontinent finally ended with both independence and partition to create two new nations.

The partition into two independent states – the Hindu majority India and the Muslim majority Pakistan – led to one of the largest forced migrations in twentieth century.

It also resulted in a bloody outbreak of communal violence, claiming the lives of more than a million people, that still has repercussions today.

Pippa Virdee, Professor of Modern South Asian History at 51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø Leicester (51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø), is one of the few historians to have dedicated her research to cross border relations between the two states.

Now, after more than 20 years of researching and recording the voices of the people affected in Pakistan, India and the UK, Professor Virdee is to present her inaugural professorial lecture at 51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø.

Parallel Lines: The Personal in Partition will take place this Tuesday in 51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø’s Hugh Aston Building, from 6pm, and reveal Professor Virdee’s role in telling the stories of the everyday people affected by the divide.

It is the latest in an new programme of free public lectures being offered by 51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø in the coming months.

Professor Virdee said: “The reason I have chosen the title Parallel Lines is because it can refer to the partition lines but is also a play on the word ‘political’.

“It is very difficult to separate the personal from what is political and the parallel lines also refer to the international borders and the geographical borders of Pakistan and India.

“I also wanted to bring into the talk the personal boundaries of my research – how my personal journey over the last 20 years overlaps with the history I have recorded.

“Many people research Indian history because it is a far bigger country but fewer scholars research Pakistan, which is partly why I got interested. I am especially interested in the Punjab, a region most impact by partition and divided between India and Pakistan.

“I was born in the Punjab, India and I still have close family living there. So, there is a personal interest in that region and its wider national history.

“My PhD involved a cross-border study, exploring the impact of partition on two cities, now divided, but sharing a common history, language, culture and people. I could relate to both, as I was from there myself.

“I wanted to understand how those communities, their shared history and heritage, were impacted by 1947.

“The kind of work I do is history from below, writing about people who do not normally have a voice and gathering individual accounts which we would not find in official records or in official history.

“These are the average people who were affected by the huge political decisions made in London and Delhi.

“14-15 million people were involved in one of the biggest forced migrations of the 20^th century which these people had no agency over. So, for me, it was about capturing these human voices from both sides of the border – and doing a comparative study of that.”

Professor Virdee migrated as a child to Coventry and grew up in a very working-class area, went to a comprehensive school and was the first in her family to go to university.

“I struggled with the challenges of being in a new country that I did not understand,” she said.

“Going to university was a big deal. I was going to do art but then discovered politics thanks to Margaret Thatcher and I thought ‘this is what I am interested in’.

“I chose to go to Coventry University over the University of Warwick. Coventry had just become a university in 1992.

“The simple reason I went there was there was a course on India and Pakistan and I wanted to study that. The person who taught that course went on to become my supervisor.

“It is an immense personal achievement to say I am one of the only Sikh-background, female historians who is a professor (that I’m aware of!).”

So, what does Professor Virdee hope people will take from her lecture?

“I hope people understand the way in which empire has shaped millions of lives and left its imprint in a number of countries in a number of different ways.

“These footprints of partition are not just in India and Pakistan, or Punjab but they are also in places like Leicester.

“The longer shadow of colonial rule is still there and shapes us in so many ways.”