A Kashmir of their Own: Reading marginalised literary voices and exclusionary politics (original) (raw)
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Marginality and Historiography: The case of Kashmir's History
Keeping Kashmir’s history at the centre of debate, this article makes a brief survey of some of the popular history textbooks of modern India. Arguing that modern Indian historiography has been replete with various “silences” when it comes to writing Kashmir history, it tries to look for the reasons for such “silences.” From distortions/silencing of facts to management of archives and sources of history writings, it then shows the way in which history writing is controlled in modern India. Looking for the reasons of such distortion/silences, the article argues that Indian historiography of the 19th and 20th centuries has remained confined to the twin pillars of Indian nationalism/national movement and anti-colonial struggle, and, thus, all other struggles that remain outside this dual framework are, more often than not, ignored. The article further states that the problem of history writing increases manifold when one is thinking and talking of writing history of various conflicts zones, like Kashmir, where nationalism slips into jingoism and history becomes the most important site for playing “national politics.”
Journal of English Department, Vidyasagar University, 2023
Kashmiri Anglophone literature written in the aftermath of armed conflict in Kashmir valley has evolved as a significant corpus since 2002. Owing to Kashmir valley's status as a 'disputed integral', literary narratives from Kashmir contest/challenge the dominant ideological and discursive practices of the Indian nation state. Most of the Anglophone Kashmiri literary narratives, barring a few written by Kashmiri Pandit authors, are politically/ideologically supportive of the formation of a distinct 'Kashmiri' nation. Their accommodation within the larger rubric of Indian writing in English is possible only by accommodating dissent as a salient feature of the genre. This paper charts the trajectory of development of Anglophone Kashmiri literature and situates them within the broader rubric of Indian writing in English. It engages with seminal questions such as, what constitutes Kashmiri Anglophone literature or how contesting identity/ nationalist discourses constitute distinct genres of national/regional literatures. Though Anglophone Kashmiri literature emerged in the twenty-first century, they accord considerable narrative space to the foundational moment of cartographic reorganization of the Indian sub-continent. This paper critically engages with the representation of political events of 1947 as narrated in recent Anglophone Kashmiri literary narratives like Curfewed Night (2008) by Basharat Peer, The Collaborator (2011) by Mirza Waheed, Our Moon has Blood Clots (2013) by Rahul Pandita and The Half-Mother (2014) by Shahnaz Bashir. The paper dissects the narration of the 'Kashmiri' nation contra Indian nation in these literary narratives. The paper endeavours to cull out a 'Kashmiri' perspective on discourses foregrounding Indian nationhood within these literary narratives, thereby exploring the possibilities of accommodating dissent within the ambit of Indian writing in English.
Writing Kashmir, Writing the End of Empire: A Study of two Post-war British Novels
DUJES (Dibrugarh University Journal of English Studies), 2021
The paper proposes to engage with two postwar British novels Kingfishers Catch Fire (1953) by Rumer Godden and The Kashmir Shawl(2011) by Rosie Thomas and explore the politics of representing colonialism and its demise in the context of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Though Kashmir wasn't a part of the British territories in India, it came within the ambit of British hegemony under the Dogra regime and its representation is marked by typical colonial mindset since the mid-nineteenth century. The primary objective of the paper is to provide a postcolonial reading of these two novels in order to deconstruct their inherent colonial bias and decode the cultural politics of the 'persistence of Empire' in postwar British literature. The paper will focus on the cultural politics of representing Kashmir and its people within the larger narrative of Empire and its imminent dissolution. It is evident from these narratives that in spite of their 'good intentions', all the British characters expose their sense of superiority and social one-upmanship in their interaction with Kashmiris. These narratives written in the aftermath of the Second World War and the dismemberment of the British Empire in South Asia play a crucial role by evoking nostalgia for the Raj during a period when British influence in the international arena was on the wane. This paper will also explore the cultural politics of nostalgia for the Raj in the context of these two novels.
Kashmiri Marginalities: Construction, Nature and Response
To start the argument, we could club the dominant discourses around Kashmir into three broad categories: the Indian, the Pakistani, and the Kashmiri discourses. The Indian and Pakistani discourses accommodate Kashmiri people, and the history of their collective struggles, only when (and if) these buttress their respective positions. The Kashmiri discourse is quintessentially about these struggles, and in turn, the dominant Kashmiri discourse simplifies the sub-struggles and the fragmented politics that exist within, and the connections these have with the outside world. These dominant discourses of political history are a quagmire of claims and counter claims. For those who have not borne the immediate brunt of the conflict, these generate excitement and passion, and the discourse is consumed through various media much like a one-day cricket match.
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The Plight of Kashmiri Pandits beyond Conflicting Political Narratives.
The massive onslaught of insurgency in 1989 affected almost every walk of life in Kashmir. In its very beginning, the armed insurgency jolted the venerable bond of peace and harmony between Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits. The growing fear and insecurity forced Kashmiri Pandits to leave their homes for safety and survival. Their long cherished dream to return to their homeland could not materialize all these years. Over the years, this displaced community has produced a burgeoning generation of writers. These writers have successfully fictionalized and still continue to fictionalize the agonizing memories of past, of rootlessness, of identity crisis of their community, scattered around the country and outside the country. In this paper, I will work out how one such writer, Siddhartha Gigoo, fictionalizes the same agonized memories of his displaced community, in his debut novel ‘The Garden of Solitude’? In the paper, I will study the plight and agony of Kashmiri Pandit migrants on two levels; physical and psychological. Besides, the paper will also explore how Gigoo transcends beyond the confines of dominant Political narratives (these narratives were politically motivated and formulated with national interests in mind. The motive of these contending narratives was to disrupt the Pandit-Muslim harmony) and centers his narrative on the lived experience of a common man? Gigoo purposely excludes the convoluted political controversies and instead highlights the harm done by the same to a religious minority.