Postmemorial Reflections and Mestiza Consciousness: Nimmo in Anita Rau Badami’s Can you Hear the Nightbird Call?

Abstract

This article extrapolates the ways through which female histories associated with the Partition of the Indian subcontinent are transmitted across generations and how through postmemorial reflections female protagonist in Anita Rau Badami‘s Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? struggles for re-awakening and self- exploration and negotiates her loss in the background of trauma and communal violence. Drawing on Marianne Hirch concept of postmemory and Gloria Anzaldua‘s concept of mestiza consciousness, we undertake to study how the protagonist- Nimmo‘s recollections bring to light substantial examples of historical trauma, the way postmemory continues to affect next generations, and her resilience in the face of all disasters. While much goes on detailing the traumas hapless women underwent during the Partition, our study aims to glorify resilient women like Nimmo who, despite caught in the interstices of trauma and postmemorial recalls, never lost grit for recuperation.