Abstract

Bangladeshi novelist Shaheen Akhtar’s novel The Search (translated from the original Bangla novel Talaash into English by Ella Datta) explores some of the darkest truths of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Revolving mainly around Mariam, a Birangana (literally, a war heroine), the novel delineates the turbulent and excruciating journey of the rape victims of the Bangladesh Liberation War. While Biranganas embody the scars, ignominy, trauma, and painful memories of humiliation in the hands of the Pakistani army and its local collaborators, they are forced to encounter further ordeals in their free motherland. Many have become vulnerable to exploitation, insecurity, petty politics, and social boycott in an unwelcoming society. As they have lost autonomy and agency over their bodies, they become embodiments of bodily shame, social discomfort, and traumatizing memories. Virtually silenced by a patriarchal society itself loudly silent about their existence except for rhetorical purposes, political expediency, and national/historical narrativization, the Biranganas are a poignant reminder of patriarchy’s own insecurities and contradictions. Applying insights from feminist theories, Memory Studies and Trauma Studies, this qualitative paper endeavors to excavate the traumatic depths of harrowing memories of the Biranganas and expose patriarchy in the light of The Search.