Lives in Fragments: Narrating Resistance and Identity in Life-Writings of Indian Muslim Women

Book: Mapping the Trajectory of Indian Muslim Women's Life-Writings: An Autoethnographical Approach from India by CSMFL Publications

Rijul Singh
PhD Research Scholar, Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, India.

10.46679/9789349926509ch06
This chapter is a part of: Mapping the Trajectory of Indian Muslim Women’s Life-Writings: An Autoethnographical Approach from India
ISBN (Ebook): 978-93-49926-50-9
ISBN (Hardcover Print): 978-93-49926-84-4
ISBN (Softcover Print): 978-93-49926-34-9

© CSMFL Publications & its authors.
Published: April 15, 2026

Singh, R. (2026). Lives in Fragments: Narrating Resistance and Identity in Life-Writings of Indian Muslim Women. In N. Safrine, Mapping the Trajectory of Indian Muslim Women’s Life-Writings: An Autoethnographical Approach from India (pp 69-79). CSMFL Publications. https://dx.doi.org/10.46679/9789349926509ch06

Abstract

The life-writings of Indian Muslim women writers reflect nuanced negotiations of identity, resistance, and memory within a deeply gendered and communally charged socio-political landscape. This chapter examines autobiographical and semi-autobiographical works by writers such as Ismat Chughtai (Kaghazi Hai Pairahan) and Attia Hosain (Sunlight on a Broken Column), who craft narratives that intertwine the personal with the political amid the backdrop of colonial decline, nationalist movements, and Partition. Their writings illuminate how gender, religion, and class intersect to shape the inner and outer lives of Muslim women, revealing acts of subtle defiance against patriarchal and colonial structures. Expanding the scope to contemporary regional literature, the chapter engages with Heart Lamp: Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq, originally written in Kannada and translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi. Published in 2024 and winner of the International Booker Prize in 2025, this collection offers a vital counterpoint to earlier life-writings by fictionalising everyday experiences of Muslim women in southern India. Mushtaq’s stories – spanning over three decades – offer a grounded, intimate view into lives marked by systemic gender inequality, yet resilient in the face of oppression. The chapter also draws connections with memoirs such as Qurratulain Hyder’s Kar-e-Jahan Daraz Hai and contemporary interventions like Sabyn Javeri’s essays, to trace a literary continuum that resists marginalisation and asserts voice. Through a comparative analysis, this chapter positions these life-writings within the broader framework of postcolonial feminist theory, foregrounding how Indian Muslim women use literature as a space for reclaiming agency and narrating survival.

Keywords: Indian Muslim women writers, life-writing, Partition literature, Ismat Chughtai, Banu Mushtaq, Heart Lamp, postcolonial feminism, gender and identity, Kannada literature, resistance narratives

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