Three National Museums: The Musealization of Partition and its Memories in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

Abstract

This article investigates how the national museums of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh represent and musealize the memory of Partition within the broader frameworks of state-building and identity formation. Through close examination of galleries, exhibitions, and curatorial narratives, it shows how each institution constructs selective versions of national history. The Indian National Museum foregrounds civilizational antiquity while omitting Partition and the Independence Movement. The National Museum of Pakistan emphasizes Islamic identity and mythologizes political leaders, offering only fragmented engagement with Partition’s violence. In contrast, the Bangladesh National Museum highlights the 1971 Liberation War, relegating the 1947 Partition to the margins. Situating these practices within postcolonial politics, the study argues that the attainment of independence—through protracted movements in India and Pakistan, and through a nine-month war in Bangladesh—has overshadowed Partition in official narratives. Ultimately, it demonstrates that national museums function as political sites where memory is shaped through presence, absence, and silences.