Urban Un/Belonging: Translating Pre-Partition Spaces in Old Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Abstract

In this article, I propose a transgressive re/inscription of the city spaces of Old Rawalpindi through the lens of Sherry Simon’s integrated translational city theory. In the wake of the 1947 partition of the Indian sub-continent into the Muslim-majority Pakistan and the Hindu-majority India, a large number of Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains living in Rawalpindi migrated to India. The numerous houses and other buildings that they left behind have been variously re/purposed, abandoned, and re/occupied by the Muslims arriving from India. The data for this study consists of documentation of these buildings, official websites and studies, interviews with the im/migrants and locals, and the researcher’s observations. The in/consistencies between the official versions and those of the current and past residents, crucially highlighted by the digital media, suggest multiple identities and a semiotic un/belonging.