The 47

This podcast will cover 47 individual stories related to the India-Pakistan Partition in 1947. These stories are distributed geographically across the country and include individuals across backgrounds and fields. This podcast aims to understand a fraction of the impact of partition and how it shaped the formation of a Pakistani identity. Given that Pakistan has one of the youngest populations in the world, with over 40% of its population being under 15 years of age and less than 2% of its population older than 75, there are few left who have memories of this event, raising the importance of documenting these stories. 

As a young Pakistani-American, it is easy to lose sight of the struggles, the genocide, and the pain our ancestors embodied to bring us to where we are now–in an area markedly safer and more stable than they had lived pre-Partition. This podcast offers a glimpse into some of these stories. This podcast is a personal journey–an excuse to delve into understanding my ancestors.  Through The 47, I hope to create and capture voices, to empathize with stories, and to recognize what it means to be Pakistani.

This project is funded through the Finley Fellowship at Harvard College. This project could not have been accomplished without the support of my mentors at the College, my friends encouraging me to take on this project and continue persevering, every person who offered a place to stay or a ride to share in Pakistan, my family for instilling the pride of being Pakistani and teaching me the importance of using storytelling to document our history, and most importantly, every individual that was brave enough to share their story with me.