The Burmese Refugee Exodus of 1942: Making a Case for the Refugee Archive and Inclusive Refugee Policies

The Burmese Refugee Exodus of 1942 was one of the worst forced migrations in South Asia. The capture of Burma by the Japanese during the Second World War forced the British to retreat and the occupants to flee as refugees to India. Despite its magnitude and impact, it remains largely understudied by both historians and scholars. The few records that exist are largely Eurocentric and reduce the Indian refugees to a nameless, faceless mass of travellers. Not only were the refugees victims of official apathy and neglect, they were also victims of historical amnesia. This essay makes a case for the refugee archive in the backdrop of the Burmese Exodus of 1942. Hannah Arendt’s concept of the refugee as human condition forms the theoretical framework of the essay. It draws on Arendt’s concept of “spaces of appearances” to conceptualize the refugee archive as alternative spaces of appearances that allow the refugee to be visible and be heard and seen in public. It then reads the Burmese refugee memoir Ayya’s Accounts: A Ledger of Modern Hope in India in the light of Arendt’s concepts of “refugee as vanguard”, “storytelling as political action” and “spaces of appearances” to illustrate how refugees through their narratives create a space of appearance for themselves, become agents of change and thus contribute to inclusive refugee policies. This essay argues for a comprehensive refugee archive that registers the refugee in history and has implications on inclusive policies.