Book Info
Rising from the Ashes: Women’s Narratives of 1971 is a collection of the experiences of 22 women who faced fire, rape, eviction, displacement and death, during the war of independence in Bangladesh in 1971, and lived to tell the tale. These women are neither the creators nor the determinants of history. Their ordinary lives were uprooted by the sudden maelstrom of war. The barbarity of the Pakistani Army has marked every part of their life, but even after the war, their struggles for survival, recognition and claims for justice are an important part of the national history. From 13 women, we get an account of how their family members were killed. 9 women describe their experience of rape. The scars of these painful experiences reach far deeper than the immediate reactions to war. That is why their testimonies do not bear the black-and-white distinctions made in wars, nor is there any colour added for effect. Their personal experiences are an indictment of the war and of military brutality. These unembellished stories may be some of the most powerful to emerge from the liberation war.
Niaz Zaman
Niaz Zaman has edited several anthologies, including Selected Stories from Bangladesh, 1971 and After, The Escape and Other Stories. Her study of the Partition, A Divided Legacy: The Partition in Selected Novels of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, won the Atwar Hussain Award of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh and the National Archives Award. She was consulting editor, Arts and Humanities for Banglapedia and editor of the Bangladesh Journal of American Studies.
Shaheen Akther
Shaheen Akther is an award winning novelist and currently the Editor of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) publications. Her novel, Talaash, won Prothom Alo’s Best Book of the Year Award in 2004. Its English translation was published by Zubaan in January 2011.
Hameeda Hossain
Hameeda Hossain Founder member of Ain O Salish Kendra, a legal aid/human rights organization. A freelance writer she has previously worked as an editor, at Oxford University Press. Major research on the textile history of Bangladesh. Other publications include books and articles on craft development, issues related to women's employment and gender rights. South Asian regional representative for DAWN (a third-world women's network); member of the editorial board of Contemporary South Asia, a quarterly published from Oxford.
Sultana Kamal
Sultana Kamal is the Executive Director of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Transparency International Bangladesh and a former Adviser to the Caretaker Government.
Suraiya Begum
Suraiya Begum is an Assistant Director at Research Initiatives Bangladesh (RIB). She is also the Associate Editor of Samaj Nirikkhon and The Journal of Social Studies.
Meghna Guhathakurta
Meghna Guhathakurta was a Professor at the Department of International Relations at the University of Dhaka and is currently the Executive Director of Research Initiatives Bangladesh (RIB). She is also a member of the Executive Committee of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK).
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