Dr Anwesha Roy, Departmental Lecturer in Indian History and Culture at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and a core member of teaching staff on the Modern South Asian Studies Programme, features in this podcast for the Historical Association, which explores the history of the Partition of India in 1947, and how this history is taught in England.
The 75th anniversary of Partition has sparked renewed interest in this period and its legacy. England is home to a large South Asian diaspora community, making this history profoundly personal to many students. Family memories of this period are often diverse, painful, and deeply contested, requiring sensitivity and consideration from the history teacher.
To help think through some of the issues that teaching Partition presents, especially in schools, Natasha Robinson (post doctoral research officer at the University of Oxford) speaks to Dr Roy and to Catherine Priggs, Assistant Headteacher at Dr Challoner's Grammar School. Together they explore what makes this history controversial, and how to navigate some of the sensitivities that teachers might experience.
Read more about Dr Roy’s public outreach on the history of Partition here.