Background

One of the most critical humanitarian issues in this age of constantly changing borders and geopolitical realities is forced migration. The Partition of 1947 and the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 were two of the most devastating events in South Asian history, displacing millions of people and leaving lasting social effects. However, within standard academic curricula, these historical milestones are frequently taught through dates and political timelines rather than family memory, personal testimony, and everyday experiences.

For students from underserved backgrounds, significant barriers remain to engaging with these lived histories and community memories of post-colonial Indian heritage. When wars and border crossings are talked about in a broad political context, personal testimonies and everyday realities are rarely mentioned. This creates a distinct narrative disconnect where history feels distant rather than deeply personal. This lack of representation changes how we all understand history and detaches younger generations from the heritage embedded within their own communities.

A growing gap between generations in historical understanding makes this problem even worse. Many young people today don't know much about the complicated global events that shaped their communities. This means they don't have the background knowledge they need to understand how immigration works today. To close this gap, Be:long introduces an innovative pedagogical framework combining oral history, storytelling, reading-based engagement, and place-based learning to make post-colonial Indian heritage accessible, lived, and personal for underserved students.