Decolonizing the Archive: Anam Zakaria on the Legacies of 1971
Education Book Talk
Jun 11, 2026 — 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Description
Navigating the widely varied terrain that is 1971 across Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, Anam Zakaria juxtaposes state narratives with people's history on the ground, bringing forth the nuanced experiences of those who lived through the war. Using intergenerational interviews, textbook analyses, visits to schools and travels to museums and sites commemorating 1971, Zakaria explores the ways in which the year is remembered and forgotten across countries, generations and communities.
Anam Zakaria
Author
Anam Zakaria is an oral history researcher and the author of three books as well as dozens of articles on violence, memory, narrative construction, and othering. Her first book, The Footprints of Partition, won the 2017 KLF German Peace Prize. Her work has been published in various outlets, including Al Jazeera, The Walrus, and CBC. Anam is a registered psychotherapist (in training) and the co‑founder of Qissa, a storytelling platform that challenges the Western lens through which immigrant narratives are often presented.