Preface  ix

Acknowledgments  xv

Glossary of Terms  xix

Part I. Introducing 1971  

1. The Told and Untold Stories of 1971  3

2. Creating the History of 1971  34

Part II. Survivors Speak  

3. Victims' Memories  109

4. Women's Services  158

5. Women's War  186

Part III. A New Beginning  

Postscript: Lessons of Violence  215

Notes  279

References  243

Index  299

“Yasmin Saikia’s book is an important intervention in the discourse around 1971. It examines and demonstrates clearly the brutality of war as experienced by various marginalised groups, especially women, and the ongoing routine violence of the silencing of their voices. Saikia documents women’s voices and highlights their agency and the multiplicities of their role in the conflict.” —Chapati Mystery

“Saikia raises the rather pertinent, often forgotten, issue of women getting caught up in the cauldron of war and then, once the battlefield activities are over, being either ignored or deliberately pushed to the fringes of the societal order. Saikia’s comprehension of the history of the 1971 war leaves nothing to chance…. Saikia’s professionalism comes touched with empathy.”—Syed Badrul Ahsan, Asian Affairs

“In Yasmin Saikia's groundbreaking and provocative book, Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971, she challenges a number of cherished and inherited "truths" regarding the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971…. I commend the author for her careful analysis of militarism as a system and the cultivation of hate within it that gradually dehumanizes the Other and makes violence banal.”—Elora Halim Chowdhury and Devin G. Atallah-Gutierrez, Human Rights Quarterly

“[H]ighly readable…. The book is written in a lucid style and the stories told by the women make for compelling reading…. [B]ecause it is a product of an eclectic research methodology that includes rich ethnographic fieldwork alongside more traditional archival sources, the book would serve as a wonderful teaching tool in graduate courses on memory, oral histories, and the making of archives.”—Chitralekha Zutshi, H-Net Reviews

“Saikia’s Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971 makes a significant contribution to the war literature by documenting the untold stories and the unaccounted suffering of Bangladeshi women…. [P]erhaps the most significant contribution Saikia’s book makes to the 1971 war literature is that it breaks the exclusive claim by Bengalis on the experience of violence during the war by documenting the experiences of both Bihari and Bengali women as well as women of other ethnic and religious backgrounds…. Saikia’s book is a thought provoking read for scholars and students in the fields of Women and Gender Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, and South Asian Studies.”—Hannah Sholder, South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal

“Saikia lets ordinary people speak for themselves – and in so doing, she humanizes a story that’s usually told as a struggle of nations. Together, she and her interview partners make us think anew about the possibilities for remorse, recovery, and forgiveness.”—Elizabeth Heineman, New Books in Gender Studies Blog

“These are compelling lessons to learn and reflect on…. this book is an informative read because it lays the framework for an important historical event that hasn't received its fair share of ink. It also explains these events in the context of the suffering of its victims; their apolitical testimonies a reminder that war has no winners.”—Aparajita Saha-Bubna, Warscapes

“[A]n important intervention in the discourse around 1971. It examines and demonstrates clearly the brutality of war as experienced by various marginalised groups, especially women, and the ongoing routine violence of the silencing of their voices.”—Salman Adil Hussain, Dawn.com

“Yasmin Saikia’s book is an important intervention in the discourse around 1971. It examines and demonstrates clearly the brutality of war as experienced by various marginalised groups, especially women, and the ongoing routine violence of the silencing of their voices. Saikia documents women’s voices and highlights their agency and the multiplicities of their role in the conflict.” —Chapati Mystery

“Saikia raises the rather pertinent, often forgotten, issue of women getting caught up in the cauldron of war and then, once the battlefield activities are over, being either ignored or deliberately pushed to the fringes of the societal order. Saikia’s comprehension of the history of the 1971 war leaves nothing to chance…. Saikia’s professionalism comes touched with empathy.”—Syed Badrul Ahsan, Asian Affairs

“In Yasmin Saikia's groundbreaking and provocative book, Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971, she challenges a number of cherished and inherited "truths" regarding the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971…. I commend the author for her careful analysis of militarism as a system and the cultivation of hate within it that gradually dehumanizes the Other and makes violence banal.”—Elora Halim Chowdhury and Devin G. Atallah-Gutierrez, Human Rights Quarterly

“[H]ighly readable…. The book is written in a lucid style and the stories told by the women make for compelling reading…. [B]ecause it is a product of an eclectic research methodology that includes rich ethnographic fieldwork alongside more traditional archival sources, the book would serve as a wonderful teaching tool in graduate courses on memory, oral histories, and the making of archives.”—Chitralekha Zutshi, H-Net Reviews

“Saikia’s Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971 makes a significant contribution to the war literature by documenting the untold stories and the unaccounted suffering of Bangladeshi women…. [P]erhaps the most significant contribution Saikia’s book makes to the 1971 war literature is that it breaks the exclusive claim by Bengalis on the experience of violence during the war by documenting the experiences of both Bihari and Bengali women as well as women of other ethnic and religious backgrounds…. Saikia’s book is a thought provoking read for scholars and students in the fields of Women and Gender Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, and South Asian Studies.”—Hannah Sholder, South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal

“Saikia lets ordinary people speak for themselves – and in so doing, she humanizes a story that’s usually told as a struggle of nations. Together, she and her interview partners make us think anew about the possibilities for remorse, recovery, and forgiveness.”—Elizabeth Heineman, New Books in Gender Studies Blog

“These are compelling lessons to learn and reflect on…. this book is an informative read because it lays the framework for an important historical event that hasn't received its fair share of ink. It also explains these events in the context of the suffering of its victims; their apolitical testimonies a reminder that war has no winners.”—Aparajita Saha-Bubna, Warscapes

“[A]n important intervention in the discourse around 1971. It examines and demonstrates clearly the brutality of war as experienced by various marginalised groups, especially women, and the ongoing routine violence of the silencing of their voices.”—Salman Adil Hussain, Dawn.com

“From victims and perpetrators, women and men, Yasmin Saikia has gathered first-person accounts of the gendered violence of the 1971 Bangladesh war of independence. No one else has met this challenge, and few will be able to think about the future of South Asia without reference to her extraordinary account, which is at once bold and evocative, clearheaded and hopeful.”—Bruce B. Lawrence, co-editor of On Violence: A Reader

“This outstanding book offers an entirely new perspective on the dynamics of the Bangladesh war of 1971, focusing on the memories of Bangladeshi women. Full of pathos, it is an indictment of societies indifferent to women’s suffering, even when women become targets of violence. It will be welcomed by readers interested in genocide, women’s issues, political violence, and especially by those South Asians who witnessed the horrors of 1971 firsthand.”—Rafiuddin Ahmed, author of Religion, Identity, and Politics: Essays on Bangladesh

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