Insurgency and Migration: Examining the Experiences of Home and Belonging among Non-Migrant Kashmiri Pandits Living in Indian Administered Kashmir

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines how non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits from the upper caste Hindu community construct the meaning of home and belonging via their lived experiences in relation to the insurgency of 1989 in Kashmir which led to the migration of their community. Literature indicates the meaning of the loss of home and belonging migrant Kashmiri Pandits construct while living in the host places yet the least scholarship is available for non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits. An interpretative phenomenological approach was used to explore the experiences of the participants. A total of 19 participants were selected purposively for the present study. Participants described their experiences pre- and post-insurgency period of 1989. The analysis of the data resulted in two subordinate themes: home and belonging as an emotional space and home and belonging as a socio-political space. These findings, which are based on a phenomenological approach, help to better comprehend the feeling of being a non-migrant Kashmiri Pandit and the anguish that comes with conflict-induced migration.