South Asian Oral History

Since a few years an oral history project is being undertaken by Shahriar Kabir, directed at collecting the memories of political activists from different progressive and nationalist backgrounds. These memories are preserved in the form of extensive video recordings.

So far he has been able to collect such 'living memories' going back to the Chittagong Armoury Raid of the 1930s. The recordings included communist, labour, peasant, women, cultural, anti-colonial and nationalist movements of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, such as the Naxalite movement, the peasant uprisings of Telengana and Srikakulam, and the Bangladesh Liberation War.

For a detailed listing of the interviews collected so far by Kabir and for the other South Asian Oral History Collections, check the new 'Guide to the South Asian Oral History Collections at IISH'