Stories of Belonging and Nostalgia: South Asian Migrants’ Narratives  

Introductory Note

The partition of South Asia in 1947 marked one of the most turbulent episodes in modern history, forcibly displacing millions and redrawing boundaries that continue to shape the subcontinent’s sociopolitical fabric. Migration has been a common issue in South Asia after the partition, mainly due to political causes and ethnic tensions in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Ethnographic literature has endeavoured to blur the storytelling genres by presenting the people’s narratives in fiction and creative non-fiction. Laurel Richardson of Ohio State University suggests in his article (2000) that postmodernism brought liberal ideas to ethnographic studies by freeing the ethnographers to represent their studies in different ways; at the same time, it narrows the authors’ approach by asking them to be conscious about authorship, truth and validity of ideas (p. 253-254). The advent of the 21st century witnessed a sharp rise in ethnographic literature by writers like Sarmila Bose, Nayanika Mookherjee, Bina D’Costa, Radhika Nataranjan, Ravinder Kaur, who brought the plights of Bengali, Bihari, Tamil, and Punjabi migrants after the 1947 partition, the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh, the Sri Lankan Civil War and other conflicts in different areas of postcolonial South Asia.

This book seeks to illuminate the voices and experiences that have long remained marginalised or obscured within official histories and mainstream narratives. We invite scholars, writers, and researchers to contribute firsthand accounts, family histories, oral testimonies, and narrative nonfiction exploring the complex intersection of migration, identity, citizenship, and belonging among South Asian migrants.

The editorial team seeks original contributions that foreground personal experiences, cultural memory, and micro-histories, expanding our understanding of nostalgia, resilience, and loss across generations. By centering the testimony of migrants themselves, we aim to foster a nuanced dialogue on the challenges, dignity, and persistent struggles faced by uprooted communities in the region.​

About the Volume

This edited volume seeks ethnographic narrative nonfiction that explores the lived experiences, memories, and everyday worlds of migrants across South Asia in the aftermath of partition and its continuing afterlives. The book focuses on how individuals, families, and communities remember, narrate, and negotiate displacement, loss, and belonging across borders, generations, and regimes of citizenship. The approach is grounded in narrative, thick description, and context-rich storytelling that situates life histories within wider social, cultural, and political histories of migration and conflict.

Editor: Sanjib Kr Biswas, Independent Researcher, Ethnographer, and Author, with publications from Bloomsbury, Routledge, etc.

Thematic Scope and Sub-themes

We invite submissions under the following sub-themes:

Migration in South Asia

• Accounts detailing the forced and voluntary migration triggered by the partition and its aftermath, including patterns of displacement, settlement, and adaptation.​

Bengali Migrants in India

• Experiences reflecting the journey, hardship, community-building, and the enduring crisis of identity among Bengali migrants in India, especially in light of recent governmental policies and societal challenges.​

Bengali Migrants in Pakistan

• Stories capturing the displacement and everyday realities of Bengali migrants who crossed into Pakistan, grappling with questions of language, ethnicity, and assimilation.​

Urdu-speaking Migrants in Bangladesh

• Narratives that explore the plight of Urdu-speaking migrant communities (often termed 'stranded Pakistanis' or 'Biharis') in Bangladesh, focusing on struggles with nationality, assimilation, and rights.​

Sri Lankan Tamil Migrants in India, Canada, and Australia

• Narratives that explore the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils who faced violence, prejudices and backlash during the Sri Lankan Civil War and its aftermath and migrated to India, Canada, Australia and a few other countries across the continents. 

Punjabi Migrants in India and Canada

• Stories of belonging and nostalgia of Punjabis who experienced enforced migration in India and voluntary migration in Canada after the partition. 

Migration and Crisis of Identity

• Testimonies addressing alienation, statelessness, and the evolving crisis of identity shaped by language, religion, and citizenship, as migrants navigate host societies and state policies.​

Migration, Nationality, and Citizenship

• Analyses of how migrant status intersects with questions of nationality, legal recognition, and citizenship across South Asian states.​

Crime against Humanity against the Migrants

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  Personal or collective accounts of violence, gross human rights violations, and institutionalised brutality suffered by migrants in South Asia.​

Ethnic Conflict and Migration

• Narratives foregrounding how communal violence, ethnic tensions and identity politics have shaped the migrant experience, both during partition and in its continuing aftermath.​

Migrant Women’s Plights

• Focused stories about migrant women, documenting unique vulnerabilities, labour exploitation, familial separation, and survival strategies in new environments.​

Gender Violence against the Migrants

• Testimonies and literary narratives exposing gender-based violence encountered by migrant women and how it compounds the trauma of displacement.​

Migrants in Diaspora

• Narratives focusing on the lives, struggles, nostalgia and identity crisis of the migrants belonging to the South Asian diaspora in the West. 

Submission Guidelines:

Please submit an abstract of 300-350 words describing your narrative nonfiction, along with a short bio-note of 150 words to  sanjibkrbiswas@zohomail.in. Complete chapters (6,000–7,000 words) will be due about two months following acceptance of proposals. 

Methodology: Ethnographic and Narrative Approach

Contributions employ third-person ethnographic narratives (6,000–7,000 words) in APA style, drawing on fieldwork, interviews, and archives. Ethical anonymity and consent are mandatory.

Submissions should adopt an explicitly ethnographic orientation while remaining accessible as narrative nonfiction. The volume welcomes work based on:

• Oral histories, life stories, and in-depth interviews.

• Participant observation, long-term engagement with communities, or immersion in specific localities.

• Family archives, letters, diaries, photographs, and other personal or community records.

• Community memory projects, grassroots documentation, and local commemorative practices.

The narrative voice should be in the third person, even when closely representing life histories and testimonies. The researcher-writer may appear as an embedded presence (“the researcher,” “the narrator,” “the fieldworker”) rather than using first-person pronouns. Reflexive insights about positionality, ethics, and method are encouraged but should be framed in the third person and integrated into the narrative rather than presented as a separate methodological essay.

Each contribution should strive for:

• Thick description of people, places, gestures, silences, and material objects associated with migration and displacement.

• Sensitivity to intersections of class, caste, gender, religion, language, and region in shaping migrant experiences.

• A balance between storytelling and analysis, allowing theory and concepts to illuminate rather than overshadow lived realities.

Target Audience

Scholars in anthropology, history, literature, and migration studies; educators; policymakers; and general readers interested in South Asian histories. The volume targets academic presses for global dissemination.

Important Dates:

• Abstract deadline: 28 February 2026

• Acceptance notification: 31 March 2026

• Full article: 30 April 2026

• Revision & re-submission: 31 May 2026

• Expected Publication: December 2026

About the Editor 

Sanjib Kr Biswas is an Independent Researcher in the areas of Gender Studies, Ethnic Conflict, Feminist Ethnography and South Asian Historiography and Narratives. He completed his PhD in 2021 from Indian Institute of Technology Patna. Previously, he worked with Raiganj Surendranath Mahavidyalaya and the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) as a guest lecturer in the PG section and an Academic Counsellor, respectively. He has a track record of publications in journals like Journal of Gender Studies (Taylor & Francis), Journal of International Women’s Studies (Bridgewater State University), etc. His monograph, titled The Gendered War: Evaluating Feminist Ethnographic Narratives of the 1971 War of Bangladesh (Bloomsbury), is a widely indexed and acclaimed book for studies and research on feminist ethnography, postcolonial historiography, and gender issues in South Asia.