Kashmir and the Future of South Asia

by Sugata Bose (Editor), Ayesha Jalal (Editor)

Overview

This book uses an innovative people-centered approach to the Kashmir problem to shed new light on why postcolonial partitions remain unfinished and why the wounds of postcolonial nation-state formation in South Asia continue to fester.

"Kashmir" is viewed as a metaphor for the permanent internal wars of partition that mark the South Asian experience. Chapters sensitively bring Kashmiri voices to the fore to examine Kashmir in the national discourses of India and Pakistan, resistance in the Kashmiri imagination and the Kashmir conflict in a global context. The book foregrounds how the space of Kashmir as a cultural, historical and political sphere persists and continues to haunt the postcolonial national present as the people of Kashmir and their cultural, literary and artistic productions cannot be contained within the regnant paradigms of the nations across which the region is partitioned. Additionally, the book explores how long-term resolution would demand engagement with historical forces, political actors and social formations that exceed the nation-state.

An important contribution to the study of this troubled region, this book will be of interest to academics and researchers of modern South Asian history and politics as well as comparative politics and international relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367634902
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/01/2022
Series:	Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series
Pages:	162
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sugata Bose is the Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University, USA. His books include A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire (2006), His Majesty’s Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India’s Struggle Against Empire (2011), The Nation as Mother: and Other Visions of Nationhood (2017) and, with Ayesha Jalal, Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (4^th edition, 2017, also published by Routledge).

Ayesha Jalal is the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University, USA. Her books include Self and Sovereignty: Individual and Community in South Asian Islam (2000), Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia (2008), The Pity of Partition: Manto’s Life, Times and Work Across the India-Pakistan Divide (2013) and, with Sugata Bose, Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (4^th edition, 2017, Routledge).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Freedom’s Open Wound 2. Kashmir Scars: A Terrible Beauty is Torn 3. Cups of Nun Chai: 2010–ongoing 4. The State of Azadi: Voices from Pakistan-administered Kashmir 5. Affective Governance, Disaster, and the Unfinished Colonial Project 6. Infrastructures of Occupation: Mobility, Immobility, and the Politics of Integration in Kashmir 7. Narratives From Exile: Kashmiri Pandits and their Construction of the Past 8. Kashmiri Imaginings of Freedom in the Global Arenas 9. Kashmir and the Fire this Time 10. Conclusion: Healing the Wound

Editorial Reviews

"[T]his book […] seeks an answer to the unfinished legacy of partition and the festering wound it created, i.e. Kashmir problem. It seeks to explore the impact of such a psychological division on the political imagination of India, Pakistan, and more importantly Kashmiris; and looks into how India and Pakistan imagine Kashmir’s presence within their respective fold, and how resistance is viewed by Kashmiris, and how the unending Kashmir conflict is viewed in the global scenario. It shows how the cultural, historic, and political space of Kashmir persists, as the people of Kashmir and their cultural, literary, and artistic productions cannot be contained within the reigns of the countries through which this country is divided. It continues to haunt the postcolonial national present. The book also examines how long-term resolution demands a commitment to historical forces, political actors, and social groups that are beyond the nation-state. The writers used an approach focusing on the people of Kashmir rather than standard statistics and national security concerns."

Anayat Ullah Mugloo, University of Kashmir, Mainstream, VOL LIX No 28, June 2021

From the Publisher