COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND NARRATIVE: ETHNOGRAPHY OF SOCIAL TRAUMA IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR by TAMANNA MAQBOOL SHAH B.A., University of Pune, 2000 M.B.A., D.A.V. University, 2004 A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of Sociology College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2012 Approved by: Major Professor Laszlo Kulcsar Copyright TAMANNA MAQBOOL SHAH 2012 Abstract Kashmir has been in the throes of a civil war since late 1989. The armed conflict between Islamist militants and the Indian security forces has consumed over one hundred thousand civilian lives. Communities have been displaced from their centuries’ old heritage. Almost every household has lost a dear one to the bullet of either a security man or a militant. Deeply entrenched patterns of militarization of the Kashmiri society encompassing a range of material and discursive processes have produced horrific social suffering for local communities in the ostensible rhetoric of protecting national sovereignty. In a situation where Kashmiris have been identified as threats to national order and incarcerated, literally and figuratively, as prisoners of the state, they try hard to retain their sense of history since awareness of history enhances communal and national identity. However, in a society under siege the only tools to retain a sense of ‘social self’ and ethnic collectivity, are through narrative telling and recall to memory that help live trauma collectively to give vent to their plight. This thesis attempts to broadly review the problem in Kashmir and then describe in detail various techniques that Kashmiri society employs like commemoration, narrative telling, oral history, symbolism, theatre, language, and memory etc. to create and live trauma collectively to maintain identity and strive for the perceived cause. Through such reliving of collective trauma societies seek their identity and reinvent their ethnicity. Table of Contents List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ ix Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1 - Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Statement of the Problem and Research Question ...................................................................... 2 Purpose and Objective of Study .................................................................................................. 4 Overview of the Thesis ............................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 2 - Narrative, Memory and Formation of Collective Trauma ........................................... 8 Conceptualizing Narrative and Memory ..................................................................................... 8 Role of Narrative and Memory in Trauma formation and perpetuation ................................... 18 Importance of Social Space ...................................................................................................... 22 The Method of Commemoration .............................................................................................. 24 Chapter 3 - Methodology .............................................................................................................. 26 Research Design ....................................................................................................................... 26 Interviews .............................................................................................................................. 26 Non-Participant Observation ................................................................................................ 28 Document Reviews ............................................................................................................... 29 Case Studies .......................................................................................................................... 30 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 31 Researcher Bias ......................................................................................................................... 32 Chapter 4 - Brief Overview of Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir ............................................. 34 From ancient times to the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 ........................................... 34 Events in the run up to the partition of India in 1947 ............................................................... 35 The Start of Insurgency ............................................................................................................. 37 Chapter 5 - Case Studies from the Conflict Zone ......................................................................... 41 Case 1: Kunan and Poshpora massacres ................................................................................... 42 Case 2: Chittisinghpora Massacre ............................................................................................. 45 iv Case 3: Nadi Marg Massacre .................................................................................................... 46 Case 4: Rape of Nilofer and Asiya ........................................................................................... 47 Case 5: Diary of a ‘custodial killing’ household ...................................................................... 48 Case 6: Fazi Begum .................................................................................................................. 50 Case 7: Fauzia Begum .............................................................................................................. 51 Case 8: Ghulam Hassan Bhat .................................................................................................... 52 Case 9: Collective Trauma and Memory in Exile: An Account of life in the displaced Pandit Communities ............................................................................................................................. 54 Chapter 6 - Significance of memorabilia, rituals, attire, symbols and customs in perpetuation of collective trauma .................................................................................................................... 56 Taxonomy of Collective Trauma Formation in Oppressed Societies ....................................... 58 Use of cultural practices to strengthen collective trauma ......................................................... 59 Linguistic mutilation and social relationships .......................................................................... 59 Expression and Heritage ........................................................................................................... 60 Music and Art ........................................................................................................................... 62 Trauma displayed through use of processions, attire, burial practices, rituals and eulogizing language .................................................................................................................................... 68 Processions and Marches ...................................................................................................... 68 Attire, Burial Practices, Rituals and Eulogizing Language .................................................. 70 Use of symbols as displays for collective trauma ................................................................. 79 Chapter 7 - Discussion and Conclusion ........................................................................................ 84 Answering the research question .............................................................................................. 84 Grievances ............................................................................................................................. 85 Religion ............................................................................................................................. 85 Toni Morrison’s ‘National Amnesia’................................................................................ 86 Grillo’s Cultural Anxiety .................................................................................................. 87 Socio-economic Deprivation ............................................................................................ 89 Gender Issues .................................................................................................................... 91 Frequent confinement and restricted movement ............................................................... 94 Alienation and Injustice .................................................................................................... 95 Living the Trauma ................................................................................................................. 95 v Prayer