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Modern Asian Studies

Volume 46, Issue 4

July 2012 , pp. 1033-1048

Whither Kashmir Studies?: A Review

CHITRALEKHA ZUTSHI (a1)
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X11000345
Published online: 20 June 2011

Abstract
This paper explores the current state of the field of Kashmir Studies and argues that, whilst scholarship on
Kashmir has come a long way since the decades after Indian independence and partition, the political situation in
the region continues to cast a long shadow over writings on Kashmir. Nevertheless, and despite the continued
difficulties associated with research within Kashmir, a new generation of scholars has emerged at the turn of the
twenty-first century, whose writings transcend geographical and political determinism as well as the discourse of
Kashmiri exceptionalism, to present Kashmir as a complex, but not unique, entity, that has been shaped by
multiple influences. In addition, this scholarship explores the ideas that have given Kashmir a particular shape in
our imaginations, through analysis of a variety of sources, including poetry, art, film, and oral histories. A lot
remains to be done, however, particularly in the field of Kashmir's medieval and pre-modern history, and in the
application of theoretical approaches such as borderlands to the region's past and present.

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