Genocide memorialization and gendered remembrance of 1984 anti-Sikh violence in Sanam Sutirath Wazir’s The Kaurs of 1984

This paper examines Wazir’s The Kaurs of 1984 (2024), focusing on how Sikh women’s memories of the 1984 Sikh pogrom operate as an agential force in resisting state narratives and reclaiming silenced histories. Wazir’s work offers a critical lens on the politics of silence, documenting and commemorating the gendered experiences of Sikh women through personal testimonies and oral histories. By applying Agamben’s theory of Homo Sacer (Agamben, G. (1998). Homo sacer: Sovereign power and bare life (D. Heller-Roazen, Trans.). Stanford University Press) and Crenshaw’s intersectionality (Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167), this analysis reveals the compounded trauma Sikh women endured, rooted not only in religious and ethnic marginalization but also in gender and economic oppression. The text situates their experiences within the cyclical nature of historical trauma, linking 1984 to the brutality of the 1947 Partition. Through the spectral presence of memory, the paper critiques biopolitical hegemony, exposing how the state’s neglect dehumanized Sikh bodies while reinforcing impunity. Wazir’s portrayal of memory becomes an enduring form of resistance, demanding justice and disrupting dominant histories.