Belonging Nowhere: Othering and Marginalisation of Partition Refugees in Krishna Sobti’s A Gujarat Here, a Gujarat There

Abstract

This paper focuses on refugees, who are some of the most underprivileged and ill-treated people in the history of the world, as they were compelled to leave their homelands due to the fear of persecution and seek haven in another host land. Refugees and asylum seekers are frequently identified and categorised as ‘other’ in the host country. As a whole, refugees become a hapless crowd who are systematically marginalised, excluded, and persecuted on various grounds. In this context, Krishna Sobti’s novel, A Gujarat Here, a Gujarat There, documents the relentless struggle of the central female character, a refugee of Partition, against the unfair marginalisation and stigmatisation in the receiving country on the grounds of her sex and of her membership in the ‘othered’ group. Through the textual analysis of the novel, this paper explores how characterising refugees as ‘others’ in the host land impedes their integration and relegates them to the periphery of the society. It highlights the internal dynamics of exclusion that can result within a national setting, even amongst the people who legitimately belong to the same country, as with the refugees of the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. Ultimately, the paper reveals how multiple layers of othering work within the ambit of othering, which in turn exacerbate the marginalisation and vulnerabilities of the stateless population and construct negative identity.