Contestations Over Law, Power and Representation in Kashmir Valley

Abstract

This essay traces forms of everyday life, political dissent and identity politics under conditions of intensive militarization and ongoing emergency legislation in Indian-administered Kashmir Valley. Drawing on ethnographic material collected during field research in 2009 and 2010, the essay traces patterns of coercion, containment and contestation in the region, with special attention to how law functions as a site of militarization and control as well as protest, struggle and resistance. In an effort to draw attention to local priorities and interests in the conflict, our textual and visual analyses explore how law is employed in the public arenas of Kashmiri social life, and how differently positioned social actors – including victims’ families, human rights lawyers, civil society activists and youth street protesters – have each sought to appeal to and challenge state authority by asserting normative community authority over space and institutions, often in ways that draw upon alternative understandings of law and justice. The aim of our overall project is to explore the relevance of these jurisdictional claims for local and transnational justice efforts in the region, disrupting static frameworks that see only statism and separatism as alternatives in a post-conflict future.