Languages of Belonging - Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir

Bibliographic Details

Title: Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir

Author: Chitralekha Zutshi

Publisher: Permanent Black

Place of Publication: New Delhi, India

Publication Year: 2003

Series: Permanent Black Monographs, Opus 1

Language: English

Format: Hardcover

Pagination: xvi + 359 pages, with illustrations and maps

ISBN-10: 81-7824-060-2

ISBN-13: 978-81-7824-060-2

Description

Languages of Belonging examines the historical formation of political, religious and regional identities in the Kashmir Valley from the nineteenth century into the twentieth. Chitralekha Zutshi challenges explanations that treat Kashmiriyat as a timeless and culturally unified Kashmiri identity. Instead, she places Kashmir within the broader history of colonial and postcolonial South Asia.

The study analyzes how Dogra rule, indirect colonialism, economic restructuring and changes in landholding affected class formation and political life in Kashmir. It considers the relationship between state institutions and political elites, as well as the ways in which cultivators, urban communities, religious leaders and emerging organizations responded to social and economic change.

Zutshi gives particular attention to the role of Islam, language, education, print culture and historical memory in shaping Kashmiri political discourse. She traces how ideas of religious community, regional belonging and nation came to be articulated in relation to Kashmir, India, Pakistan and the wider Islamic world.

Drawing upon extensive archival research in Delhi, Jammu and Srinagar, together with Kashmiri, Urdu and Persian literary and historical sources, the book reconstructs the development of modern Kashmiri identity beyond the conventional framework of territorial conflict. It is an important research resource for Kashmir studies, modern South Asian history, Islam in South Asia, colonialism, nationalism, regional identity and political culture.

Condition

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