Abstract
In this article, I describe my public history project seeking to transform a street in Connaught Place, New Delhi, into a militarised Srinagar marketplace. Through this phenomenological project, I aim to make Hindu, middle- class, upper-middle-caste Indians realise that the Indian presence in the Kashmir Valley is a colonial, military occupation. Through this, I want them to reconsider India’s claims of being a secular, liberal-democracy. To contextualise my intervention, I briefly represent the mainstream Indian narrative on Kashmir, both in academia and the wider public space, in the first section of this article. Thus, by highlighting the ‘silences’ in the general understanding of Kashmir, I will demonstrate my project’s contribution to Kashmir’s historiography.
 KEYWORDScolonialism; exhibit; phenomenology; India-Occupied Kashmir; historiography; Museum
Highlights
This article proposes a public history project which creates a Srinagar marketplace in Connaught Place, New Delhi
The ideal museum visitor for the project is the middle-class/caste Indian. This demographic uses its greater access to the public sphere to air vitriol around Kashmir, often dismissing any resistance to the Indian State as a conspiracy sponsored by the eternal bogeyman, Pakistan
Drawing on Haitian historian Michel-Rolph Trouillot, I highlight the ‘silences’ which are central to the coherence of this narrative.[1]. These silences are demonstrated through a review of both the academic historiography of the subject, and the popular imagination of Kashmir
Summary
This demographic uses its greater access to the public sphere to air vitriol around Kashmir, often dismissing any resistance to the Indian State as a conspiracy sponsored by the eternal bogeyman, Pakistan This project aims to viscerally bring home how occupation strips its subjects of dignity. The original accession to India is legitimised as India’s rescue of Kashmir from the clutches of the ‘savage’ tribals of the North-West Frontier Province sent by Pakistan.6Thus, Kashmir is formulated as an ‘integral part of India’.7 It is easier, after 9/11, to establish the entire militant insurgency of 1989 as a burst of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism[8], instead of an indigenous armed rebellion against Indian occupation. These silences are compounded by unavailability of important archival documents of the post-1924 years in Kashmir, in both the state and National Archives of India.[15]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
