Contesting settler colonial logics in Kashmir as pedagogical praxis

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Indian government’s decision to change the status of Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019, activism for the right to self-determination in Kashmir came under tremendous pressure. An intense crackdown in Kashmir, including a complete communication blackout and internet blockade, meant the only Kashmiri and dissenting voices left were located in diasporic spaces. As two Kashmiri scholar–activists involved in advocacy work on Kashmir, we examine the challenges of decolonial activism and transnational solidarity building, especially in Western academic spaces. For both of us, Kashmir has been a home and is a place where our scholarly ethos is entwined with intimate knowledge. While the diasporic/exilic location presents its own challenges of representation, the urgency imposed by the settler colonial logics that create existential questions for Kashmiris forces reconsiderations both of political alliance building as well as scholarly frameworks. In this article, we explore the emergent contours of a pedagogy of solidarity that centers Indigenous perspectives in relation to Kashmiri diasporic activism. We examine how our solidarity work takes shape in the neoliberal academy, grassroots progressive spaces, and transnational media.

Keywords:

• Decolonization
• critical literacy
• pedagogic praxis
• settler colonial studies
• solidarity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 India had claimed Kashmir in 1947 based on the Instrument of Accession signed by Jammu and Kashmir’s Hindu feudal ruler who was facing revolts from his impoverished Muslim majority subjects. The UN Security Council passed resolutions (UNSC Res. 47) that did not accept this treaty and gave the right to self-determination to the people of the state, but India did not implement them, instead signing another treaty with a few loyalist Kashmiri politicians which became the basis of Articles 370 and 35A.

2 For a critique of self-determination see Massad (2018).

3 For an example of this kind of writing, see Kumar (2020).

4 For more on the link between settler colonialism and demographic replacement, see Wolfe (2006, p. 403).

5 There is the oft-missed irony—which Kashmiris are quick to point out—that the US, Israel, and India, which proclaim themselves to be the “greatest democracy in the world,” the “only democracy in the region,” and the “largest democracy in the world,” respectively, are either founded on or have ongoing violent settler colonial projects.

6 The Kashmir Syllabus can be accessed on the Stand with Kashmir website. https://standwithkashmir.org/the-kashmir-syllabus/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohamad Junaid

Mohamad Junaid is an assistant professor of Anthropology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, MA. His current book project, titled “Rebel Dreams: Postcolonial Empire and Political Subjectivity in Kashmir,” is an ethnographic account of the post-1947 movement for self-determination in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Hafsa Kanjwal

Hafsa Kanjwal is an assistant professor of South Asian history at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. Her current book project, entitled “Controlling Kashmir: State-Building under Colonial Occupation” examines the role of education, economic development, and cultural reform in maintaining India’s occupation of Kashmir in the post-Partition period.