1984 and its afterlife: legacy, narratives, and the making of a community

Taking place on 18th and 19th December 2025 at London Metropolitan University, this symposium explores the long-lasting legacy of 1984 and its role in contemporary narratives about the Indian postcolonial nation and its future, looking specifically at the ways in which narratives of 1984 inform processes of identity and belonging, and inter-community relations. Indeed, as Kaur Chaudhry observes, even though memories of violence have the potential to further divide communities, they can also promote inter-community solidarity, for example when Sikhs extended their support to Muslims in 2002, in light of their shared “gruesome experiences” (i.e. the violence of 1984 and 2002, Chaudhry 2019, xxvii). By analysing the ways in which the events of 1984 have been memorialised, and revisited, in literature, cinema, and other art forms, participants will discuss the significance of memories of 1984 for national and diasporic politics of identity and their impact on inter-community relations, sense of belonging and the relationship between Sikhs and the Indian state.

This symposium is open to all scholars and academics interested in the subject.

Programme:

18th DECEMBER, THURSDAY

10:00 – 10:30 Welcome and Opening remarks, Dr Clelia Clini and Dr Deimantas Valanciunas.

10:30 – 12:00 UK time (16:00- 17:30 India time). Room TM3-03. Keynote speech and book launch by Dr Ishmeet Kaur Chaudhry "Contextualising Chaurasi: Initiating a Dialogue on Collective Healing"

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13:30 – 15:30 UK time (19:00 – 21:00 India time). Room TM3-03. Panel 1: Women’s memories. Hybrid panel.

Maria Fernanda Vázquez-Vela. Different forms of memory, identity, and activism among Sikh Widows in Delhi and Panjab: Widow Jatha and Militancy Widows.

Anshu Saluja. Scarred Lives, Long Shadows: Recovering the Afterlife of the 1984 Violence through Women’s Voices.

Prabhsharanbir Singh. The Psycho-Politics of Torture: Understanding the Anguish of Sikh Women during the Khalistan Militant Movement

Prabhsharandeep Singh Sandhu. History, memory, and language: re-reading trauma via Harinder Singh Mahboob’s poetry.

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16:00 Room TM2-17. Film screening: 1984. When the Sun Didn’t Rise. Followed by Q&A with the filmmaker, Teena Kaur Pasricha, chaired by Clelia Clini

19th DECEMBER, FRIDAY

09:00 – 11:00 UK time (14:30- 16:30 India time). Room TM3-03. Panel 2: Performing arts and cinema. Hybrid panel.

Asa Willoughby. Martial Memories, Gendered Policing: Diasporic Sikh Masculinity and the Afterlife of 1984

Himanshu Sharma. SYL, 1984 and Sidhu Moosewala: Remembrance of a Silent Past through Narratives of Revolution.

Ishan Tripathi. Testimony and Silence: Cinematic Representations of 1984 and the Politics of Censorship.]

Pujarinee Mitra. Anti-Fascist Ishq: Music, Caste, and Regional Identity in Post-1984 Punjab. Cinema.

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11:10 – 12:40 UK time (16:40 – 18:10 India time). Room TM3-03. Panel 3. Literature and memory. Hybrid panel.

Antara Chatterjee. “The past is intruding forever into the present”: 1947, 1984 and the palimpsestic past in Manreet Sodhi Someshwar’s The Radiance of a Thousand Suns.

Prachi Ratra. 1984 and ‘The Breakdown of the Ordinary’ in Khushwant Singh’s Delhi and Amitav Ghosh’s “The Ghosts of Mrs Gandhi”.

Amanpreet Kaur. Ajaib Ghar and other Memorial Sites: November, 1984 Sikh Genocide.

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13:30 – 14:30 UK time (19:00 – 20:00 India time). Room TM3-03. Panel 4. Literature and poetry. Hybrid panel.

Maria Puri. The event, the hurt, and the (post)memory: Contemporary re/reading of Punjabi poetry collection, Balde khatā̃ de sirnāvẽ / Postal addresses of burning letters (1985).

Balwant Kaur and Vibhas Chandra Verma. Exile from the Nation and Exile within the Nation.

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14:45 – 15:45. Room TM3-03 and online. Round table discussion: Memory, arts and 1984. Jaswinder Kaur (artist), Dr. Pushpinder Chowdhry (Tongues of Fire, UK Asian Film Festival) and Teenaa Kaur (filmmaker) in conversation with Deimantas Valančiūnas.

Please note: This is a two-day conference and attendees must reserve a separate ticket for each day.

This symposium is organised by Global Diversity and Inequality Research Centre, South Asian Studies Research Group and Centre for Life Writing and Oral History (CLiOH) at London Metropolitan University, and co-hosted by the Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, Vilnius University.

It is funded by the European Association for South Asian Studies (EASAS).

With the support of Hidden Kitchen

If you have any questions about this event, please contact:

Dr Clelia Clini at c.clini@londonmet.ac.uk

Dr. Deimantas Valančiūnas at deimantas.valanciunas@fsf.vu.lt

If you reserve a ticket but later on find out you can’t attend, please contact organisers and/or release your ticket to allow people in the waiting list to join.

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