TRAUMA OF DISPLACEMENT IN RITA CHOWDHURY'S CHINATOWN DAYS

Abstract

Human history is a history of migration. The history of human migration dates back to the beginning of civilization. This movement is ancient; what is interesting is its different theorizations and different deconstructions of it. Migration is an important part of the history of many countries. People have migrated to various countries under different and compelling circumstances. Imperialism and colonial rule are the most common causes of migration in the modern period. Migration as a movement is both voluntary and involuntary. Postcolonial phenomena of migration mostly involved forced or involuntary migration. Reasons for this ranged from war and famine to social, political, and religious conflicts. Voluntary migration involved the search for better livelihood and economic pursuits. Whether voluntary or involuntary, migration often leads to displacement in the host country. Displacement further led to experiences of trauma, nostalgia, anguish, and alienation. Thus, the sense of alienation and displacement became a prevalent existential experience of migrants, particularly in a postcolonial world. This paper will engage with one such experience of trauma and displacement of the Indian Chinese or Assamese Chinese. They faced expulsion and forced displacement during the 1962 Indo-China war. They were attacked, vilified, and targeted due to their ethnicity though many of them had lived in Makum, Assam, for generations. The paper will engage with trauma theories to understand the effects of trauma on the psychology of the Indian Chinese as individuals and study the cultural trauma of the entire community.