Event, Metaphor, Memory: Chauri Chaura 1922-1992 [Jun 30, 2006] Amin, Shahid

Winner of the ananda kentish coomaraswamy book prize 1997 an account of the momentous event in modern indian history which made mahatma gandhi suspend the non-cooperation movement on 4 february 1922, peasant volunteers who had enlisted in gandhis newly launched peoples struggle against british rule turned violent and burned down a police station in ???chauri chaura killing twenty-three policemen according to shahid amin, this dramatic occurrence simply had to be quickly forgotten as a stain upon the clean sheets of gandhian non-violence and so it was ???chauri chaura was effectively blotted out of the grand narrative of indian heroic nationalism, making a token appearance in ???authoritative textbooks in contrast with this, in event, metaphor, memory amin reveals the fascinating specificities that comprise the history of ???chauri chaura by combining archival records with local memory to amplify voices of individual peasants, he analyses the way events and memories are given meanings a