Uditi Sen

I am a historian of modern and contemporary India, with particular interest in themes of migration, gender, memory and identity. I have extensively researched the impact of the partition of India, focusing particularly on the governance of refugees. My work is influenced by postcolonial theory, the Subaltern Studies school and feminist scholars. I am fluent in Bengali and Hindi, which has enabled me to conduct oral history research into the experiences of marginalised groups of refugees. I use refugee reminiscences to understand how refugees negotiate policies and how memory impacts identity formation.

I am at present involved in a collaborative research project that explores the myriad roles played by women - as volunteers, organisers, bureaucrats, politicians, writers and citizens - in shaping the emerging ideologies and structures of independent India. This project aims to produce a definitive account of women's role in nation-building during the first decade of independence. In doing so, it challenges the present characterization of the 1950s as the 'dead decades' of feminism.