Victor Kattan and Amit Ranjan, "The Breakup of India and Palestine: The Causes and Legacies of Partition" (Manchester University Press 2023)

In the latest episode of Unlocking Academia, host Tarin Ahmed is joined by legal scholar Victor Kattan and researcher Amit Ranjan to discuss their co-edited volume The Breakup of India and Palestine (Manchester University Press). Bringing together a range of contributors, the book examines how two major political ruptures of the twentieth century, the partition of British India and the proposed partition of Palestine in 1947, can be understood not as isolated or parallel events, but as part of a wider set of imperial strategies, legal frameworks and political transformations shaped by the end of empire.Kattan and Ranjan guide us through the historical and institutional contexts that gave rise to these partitions, from British imperial governance and debates over federation to the role of international organisations and evolving ideas of self determination and majority rule. Along the way, they reflect on how partition functioned both as a technique of imperial control and as a mechanism of decolonisation, challenging the notion of 1947 as a definitive rupture and instead emphasising longer processes of political and legal change.Drawing on insights from history, international law and political thought, the conversation explores key themes and contributions from the volume, while remaining attentive to both the parallels and the differences between the Indian and Palestinian cases. It also considers how a transnational and interdisciplinary approach can reshape our understanding of partition and its global significance.