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How far do colonial subjectivities pervade the oral archives of the partitioned Indian subcontinent? How can practices of listening impact the production of such archives?

This research aims to interrogate the diverse oral historical practices that frame the 1947 Partition by listening to and attending to their archival constructions. Voice has become central to the making of Partition, and South Asian, history after decolonisation. My research therefore aims to refocus on Partition according to its sonic traces. My investigation into the “artefactualisation” of voices seeks to reveal whether a colonial politics of subjectivisation pervades their making, characterising the ways in which certain voices are selected, recorded, presented and curated. I intend to articulate potential practices of listening to such archives – important seats of knowledge and sites of historical value embedded with their own specific politics and processes of material reproduction.