000			02559 a2200229 4500
008			240502b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9781032725840
082			_a338.19541 SIN
100			_aSinha, Babli
245			_aBengal famine and cultural production: signifying colonial trauma
260			_aLondon: _bRoutledge _c2023
300			_a156p.: _bhbk.: _c23cm
440			_aRoutledge Series on South Asian Culture
520			_aThe Bengal Famine and Cultural Production: Signifying Colonial Trauma analyses the various modes of representation used by Anglophone authors and artists in response to the Bengal Famine of 1943.　 Official imperial narratives blamed the famine on natural disaster, war, exploitation by merchants, and incompetent local officials rather than members of the imperial government and have remained dominant in the global public imaginary until recent years. The authors and artists referenced in this study appealed to elite Bengali, South Asian, and international audiences to resist imperial narratives that minimized or erased suffering and instead encouraged relief efforts, promoted nationalist movements, maintained collective memory, innovated ethical forms of representation, and prompted systemic change. They were part of an established tradition of English in the subcontinent as the language of empire and cosmopolitanism but are not accessible, widely taught, or well-known. The direct encounter with suffering was and remains insufficient for prompting systemic change or even engagement, and yet, the recognition of trauma is crucial for personal and collective well-being. The cultural production of famine writers and artists sought to integrate the suffering and agency of the destitute into narratives of Bengali and South Asian identity and of the Second World War. 　 It is crucial to the Humanities to recognize this body of work as a cultural counter-discourse to the biopower of empire and to engage these texts as relevant to theories of trauma. The book will be of interest to researchers in the field of South Asian history, the history of the Bengal famine, South Asian Anglophone literature, twentieth-century art history, and trauma theory. https://www.routledge.com/The-Bengal-Famine-and-Cultural-Production-Signifying-Colonial-Trauma/Sinha/p/book/9781032370194
650			_aAsian Studies
650			_aAsian Culture & Society
650			_aSouth Asian Studies
650			_aGeographic Area
650			_aBengal Famine
650			_aSecond World War
942			_cTD _2ddc
999			_c60356 _d60356