Kashmir

by Chitralekha Zutshi

Overview

Since 1947-48, when India and Pakistan fought their first war over Kashmir, it has been reduced to an endlessly disputed territory. As a result, the people of this region and its rich history are often forgotten. This short introduction untangles the complex issue of Kashmir to help readers understand not just its past, present, and future, but also the sources of the existing misconceptions about it. In lucidly written prose, the author presents a range of ways in which Kashmir has been imagined by its inhabitants and outsiders over the centuries—a sacred space, homeland, nation, secular symbol, and a zone of conflict. Kashmir thus emerges in this account as a geographic entity as well as a composite of multiple ideas and shifting boundaries that were produced in specific historical and political contexts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190990466
Publisher:	OUP India
Publication date:	09/11/2019
Series:	Oxford India Short Introductions
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	212
File size:	332 KB

About the Author

Chitralekha Zutshi, James Pinckney Harrison Professor, History, The College of William & Mary, Virginia, US

Chitralekha Zutshi is professor of history at The College of William & Mary, Virginia, USA. She specializes in nationalism, history writing, and political culture in South Asia. Her books include Kashmir: History, Politics, Representation (2018); Kashmir's Contested Pasts: Narratives, Sacred Geographies, and the Historical Imagination (2014); and Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir (2004).

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Idea of Kashmir vii
1 Kashmir as Sacred Space 12 Kashmir as mulk 293 Kashmir as Princely State 464 Orientalizing and Nationalizing Kashmir 665 Kashmir as Nation 856 Fragmented Kashmir 1167 The Kashmir Insurgency 149
bibliography 172index 186About the Author 194