KARACHI: Histories that have been silenced in the mainstream and national narratives was the topic of discussion at the session ‘History from the Margins’ on the third day of the KLF.

Moderated by anthropologist Kamran Asdar Ali, the panel explored histories of the marginalised, including women, workers and peasants that also possess a rich history. However, these histories are not included and documented and the panelists spoke about their personal experiences of writing and researching about them.

Ali Usman Qasmi, associate professor of history at LUMS, spoke about the way historical scholarship has evolved, especially with regards to Pakistan. “If you look at the way history has been written in Pakistan it seems that Hindu as the other is at the heart of historical scholarship. And that’s how history has been written, taught and understood largely.”

He explained that looking at the way history has been written in the country, “one gets the feeling that Pakistani historiography lacks a colonial as well as a postcolonial movement”.

Contemporary artist Bani Abidi has worked extensively on voices that have been forgotten from history and one such project is on the soldiers from South Asia who fought in WW2.

Her sound installation ‘Memorial to Lost Words’ was also showcased and the haunting song and images captured the voices of these soldiers.

The space used was a parliamentary debating chamber in Edinburg never before used, and Bani was given use of the space for her sound installation.

She decided on populating it with verses that had never been heard, such as letters written by Indian soldiers condemning the war which she researched extensively and found had been censored as they were critical of the war and never reached home.

“I also found an archive of poems and songs that were sung by women in Punjab at home and this archive was collected by poet Amarjit Chandan who has done a lot of work researching on the Indian soldiers in both the great wars. He had collected wonderful lyrics that had been sung a hundred years ago but had ceased to be sung once the war was over. The censored letters and the forgotten songs I put together, and Amit Chandan wrote a poem that was supposedly written by a soldier to his family. The debating chamber had speakers in it and the song was sung there.”

Dr Ali Raza, associate professor of history at LUMS, has been working on the history of South Asia related to the peasant movement, history of the left, as well as freedom fighters. Speaking about the archives when working with marginalised groups, he said “impoverished democracies produce impoverished histories. And we can say it the other way round too. Our failure to excavate new archives, unearth unheard voices from the past, is directly feeds into our inability to hear those very voices in the present, voices which could have helped create a more just, plural and democratic polity.”

He encouraged the search for new archives and new stories, especially from among the marginalised communities, as well as create new ones, that will inform and enrich our understanding of our past, present and our future.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2018