This book draws upon new theoretical insights and fresh bodies of data to historically reappraise partition in the light of its long aftermath. It uses a comparative approach by viewing South Asia in its totality, rather than looking at it in narrow 'national' terms. As the first book to focus on the aftermath of partition, it fills a distinctive niche in the study of contemporary South Asia.

1. Introduction2. Partition and the making of South Asian boundaries: disruptions and displacements3. Rememberances of 14-15 August 1947: rituals of independence, realities of nationhood4. A community in crisis: partition and the Sikhs, 1940-485. From displacement to development: partition and the East Punjab countryside, 1947-676. Divided landscapes, fragmented identities: East Bengal refugees and their rehabilitation in India, 1947-797. Capital landscapes: the imprint of partition on South Asian capital cities8. Punjab and the making of the Pakistani state9. 'Beyond homelands': partition and the South African diaspora