Yasmin Saikia's book is an important intervention in the discourse around 1971. It examines and demonstrates clearly the brutality of war as experienced by various marginalised groups, especially women, and the ongoing routine violence of the silencing of their voices. Saikia documents women's voices and highlights their agency and the multiplicities of their role in the conflict.
Chapati ... Read moreMystery
These are compelling lessons to learn and reflect on.... this book is an informative read because it lays the framework for an important historical event that hasn't received its fair share of ink. It also explains these events in the context of the suffering of its victims; their apolitical testimonies a reminder that war has no winners.
Aparajita Saha-Bubna
Warscapes
Saikia's Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971 makes a significant contribution to the war literature by documenting the untold stories and the unaccounted suffering of Bangladeshi women.... [P]erhaps the most significant contribution Saikia's book makes to the 1971 war literature is that it breaks the exclusive claim by Bengalis on the experience of violence during the war by documenting the experiences of both Bihari and Bengali women as well as women of other ethnic and religious backgrounds.... Saikia's book is a thought provoking read for scholars and students in the fields of Women and Gender Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, and South Asian Studies.
Hannah Sholder
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
Saikia raises the rather pertinent, often forgotten, issue of women getting caught up in the cauldron of war and then, once the battlefield activities are over, being either ignored or deliberately pushed to the fringes of the societal order. Saikia's comprehension of the history of the 1971 war leaves nothing to chance.... Saikia's professionalism comes touched with empathy.
Syed Badrul Ahsan
Asian Affairs
Saikia lets ordinary people speak for themselves - and in so doing, she humanizes a story that's usually told as a struggle of nations. Together, she and her interview partners make us think anew about the possibilities for remorse, recovery, and forgiveness.
Elizabeth Heineman
New Books in Gender Studies Blog
In Yasmin Saikia's groundbreaking and provocative book, Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971, she challenges a number of cherished and inherited truths regarding the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971.... I commend the author for her careful analysis of militarism as a system and the cultivation of hate within it that gradually dehumanizes the Other and makes violence banal.
Elora Halim Chowdhury and Devin G. Atallah-Gutierrez
Human Rights Quarterly
[H]ighly readable.... The book is written in a lucid style and the stories told by the women make for compelling reading.... [B]ecause it is a product of an eclectic research methodology that includes rich ethnographic fieldwork alongside more traditional archival sources, the book would serve as a wonderful teaching tool in graduate courses on memory, oral histories, and the making of archives.
Chitralekha Zutshi
H-Net Reviews
[A]n important intervention in the discourse around 1971. It examines and demonstrates clearly the brutality of war as experienced by various marginalised groups, especially women, and the ongoing routine violence of the silencing of their voices.
Salman Adil Hussain
Dawn.com
[A]n important intervention in the discourse around 1971. It examines and demonstrates clearly the brutality of war as experienced by various marginalised groups, especially women, and the ongoing routine violence of the silencing of their voices. - Salman Adil Hussain, Dawn.com These are compelling lessons to learn and reflect on.... this book is an informative read because it lays the framework for an important historical event that hasn't received its fair share of ink. It also explains these events in the context of the suffering of its victims; their apolitical testimonies a reminder that war has no winners. - Aparajita Saha-Bubna, Warscapes Saikia lets ordinary people speak for themselves - and in so doing, she humanizes a story that's usually told as a struggle of nations. Together, she and her interview partners make us think anew about the possibilities for remorse, recovery, and forgiveness. - Elizabeth Heineman, New Books in Gender Studies Blog Saikia's Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971 makes a significant contribution to the war literature by documenting the untold stories and the unaccounted suffering of Bangladeshi women.... [P]erhaps the most significant contribution Saikia's book makes to the 1971 war literature is that it breaks the exclusive claim by Bengalis on the experience of violence during the war by documenting the experiences of both Bihari and Bengali women as well as women of other ethnic and religious backgrounds.... Saikia's book is a thought provoking read for scholars and students in the fields of Women and Gender Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, and South Asian Studies. - Hannah Sholder, South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal [H]ighly readable.... The book is written in a lucid style and the stories told by the women make for compelling reading.... [B]ecause it is a product of an eclectic research methodology that includes rich ethnographic fieldwork alongside more traditional archival sources, the book would serve as a wonderful teaching tool in graduate courses on memory, oral histories, and the making of archives. - Chitralekha Zutshi, H-Net Reviews In Yasmin Saikia's groundbreaking and provocative book, Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971, she challenges a number of cherished and inherited truths regarding the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971.... I commend the author for her careful analysis of militarism as a system and the cultivation of hate within it that gradually dehumanizes the Other and makes violence banal. - Elora Halim Chowdhury and Devin G. Atallah-Gutierrez, Human Rights Quarterly Saikia raises the rather pertinent, often forgotten, issue of women getting caught up in the cauldron of war and then, once the battlefield activities are over, being either ignored or deliberately pushed to the fringes of the societal order. Saikia's comprehension of the history of the 1971 war leaves nothing to chance.... Saikia's professionalism comes touched with empathy. - Syed Badrul Ahsan, Asian Affairs Yasmin Saikia's book is an important intervention in the discourse around 1971. It examines and demonstrates clearly the brutality of war as experienced by various marginalised groups, especially women, and the ongoing routine violence of the silencing of their voices. Saikia documents women's voices and highlights their agency and the multiplicities of their role in the conflict. - Chapati Mystery Show Less