Food translation under occupation: Apples, identity, and resistance in Indian-occupied Kashmir

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 2019, Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir was changed from an autonomous region to a union territory by the Indian government. On August 5, 2019 India cut off all internet and phone communication into and out of Kashmir and restricted movement into and out of the country. The shutdown occurred during the height of the apple harvest, and as apples rotted on trees and the harvest was lost, signs of resistance to the shutdown were written on the apples themselves. In this article we explore how apples translate as identity and resistance in the postcolonial context of Indian Occupied Kashmir. Using the communication blackout and ongoing occupation of Kashmir as a focal point, we examine how narratives about apples can be translated as a cultural discourse of agency, even as structured spaces for and means of resistance are increasingly eliminated by the Indian state. Central to our analysis are theoretical frames of translation, postcoloniality, and food system sovereignty and communication. We utilize dialogical narrative analysis as methodology to understand how the meanings of apples, a mundane but central part of everyday life for many, have communicated resistance, identity and agency during the last several years since the shutdown.