Triparna Kalita began her AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Project “Visualising India’s Wars in South-East Asia, 1938-1947” in October 2024.
History is not just recorded—it is curated, framed, and, at times, deliberately obscured. Visual representation, in particular, does not merely document events; it shapes how we perceive them. This thesis scrutinizes how the image of the Second World War in South-East Asia was constructed through film and photography, with a particular focus on India’s involvement.
Central to this inquiry are the visual records commissioned by the British Ministry of Information, held at the Imperial War Museums (IWM). Produced to serve an imperial narrative, these images raise critical questions: Who decided what was seen? What was omitted? And how did these representations influence both contemporary perceptions and historical memory? Yet, beyond these sanctioned accounts, parallel narratives existed—those captured by Indian photojournalists, filmmakers, and civilians. Their visual testimonies, often overlooked, offer a vital counterpoint to official war propaganda, demanding a more nuanced understanding of India’s wartime experience.
Equally significant are the intangible histories—the gossip, the rumour, the informal storytelling that circulated alongside official discourse. These ephemeral narratives, sometimes dismissed as anecdotal, were in fact central to how war was understood and remembered.
Supervised by Dr. Diya Gupta (City, University of London) and Dr. Peter Johnston (IWM), this research not only challenges dominant historiographies but also informs IWM’s forthcoming exhibitions in 2025 and 2027, ensuring that the complexities of history are neither flattened nor forgotten.