The Partition:
Child of Empire
The 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan was the largest forced migration in human history. Over 14 million migrated and over one million perished. After 72 years, Partition continues to be a lived experience for many across the subcontinent. The political relations between India and Pakistan are hostile, plagued by the legacy of Partition and the four wars that followed it. Even today, most refugees have not been able to return home.
When Partition violence was at its height, Gandhi had said that no peace would be possible until the refugees displaced were able to return to their homelands.
Child of Empire is an animated virtual reality docu-drama experience which immerses viewers in one of the largest forced migrations in human history.
The film takes audiences through a deeply personal perspective of this epic historical event. Two men from the Partition generation — Ishar Das Arora (voiced by Adil Hussain), an Indian Hindu who migrated from Pakistan to India, and Iqbal-ud-din Ahmed (voiced by Salman Shahid), a Pakistani Muslim who made the opposite journey — share childhood memories of their experiences while playing a board game. As the two men unpack their memories, audiences embody the experience of a 7-year-old child at key points in the migration. Child of Empire offers a powerful counter-narrative that lends a fresh perspective on the effects of forced migration on everyday individuals.
The Project is generously supported by CatchLight , Digital Catapult and Arts Council England’s CreativeXR Program, and a National Geographic Society Exploration Grant.
Teacher’s Guide
by Irene Bryant, Stefanie Orrick and Waka Takahashi Brown
Curriculum Specialists: Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE)
SPICE is appreciative of the support of Sparsh Ahuja and Project Dastaan for their permission to use some of the visuals from Child of Empire in this guide.
Copyright ©2024 by the Leland Stanford Junior University Board of Trustees
For further information contact: Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI)
Stanford University
Child of empire
By Project Dastaan