The Parchment of Kashmir History, Society, and Polity [Hardcover]

A cross-disciplinary anthology on contemporary Kashmir by academics from Jammu and Kashmir, the first such volume to appear. The book offers a panorama of key cultural concerns of Jammu and Kashmir today, incorporating analysis of military, cultural, religious, and social aspects of the society and polity.PART I: CONSTRUCTIONS OF KASHMIRI IDENTITY WITHIN THE OVERLAPPING DISCOURSES OF KASHMIRIYAT, ISLAM, SAIVISM, SUFISM Evolution of my Identity vis-?-vis Islam and Kashmir - Mohammad Ishaq Khan Kashmiriyat: The Voice of the Past Misconstrued - Rattan Lal Hangloo PART II: CULTURAL SYNCRETISM AND DECONSTRUCTION OF A MONOLITHIC CULTURE Mystical Thought of Kashmir - M. H. Zaffar Syncretic Tradition and the Creative LifeSome Kashmiri Mystic Poets - Neerja Mattoo PART III: CONCEPTUALIZATION OF SOVEREIGNTY , DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE, AND REGIONAL STABILITY Democracy and Governance in Kashmir - Noor Ahmad Baba Political Assertion of Kashmiri Identity - Gull Mohammad Wani Kashmir in the Indian Project of Nationalism - Rekha Chowdhary PART IV: SOCIOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF CONFLICT, INSURGENCY, COUNTER INSURGENCY, MILITARIZATION, AND A MONOLITHIC NATIONALISM Sociological Dimensions and Implications of the Kashmir Problem - Bashir Ahmed Dabla PART V: REPRESENTATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION Politics of Exclusion - Hameeda Naeem

In a recent tribute to her grandfather, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, the editor of this valuable collection of essays by academics from Kashmir and Jammu Universities (among others) recalls how, as a child of 10, she witnessed the visit Abdullah received on his deathbed from Indira Gandhi, who: 'tactfully expressed her concern for the stalwart leader against whom [Indira] and her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, had deployed every stratagem in the book and whose youth, idealism, passion and courage had been undermined by the unbridled power of the Indian state.' (Khan 2012, 2)

This cameo portrait of Nyla Ali Khan's dying grandfathlã&