Dealing with dislocation

Abstract

This article addresses two questions: first, how do communities facing protracted displacement deal with the experience of migration and place-making? Second, how do notions of home mediate this relationship? I approach these questions by taking the case of Kashmiri Pandits, the upper caste Hindu minority of the Kashmir valley, who were displaced due to the outbreak of conflict in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989–90 and a significant section of whom were located in displaced persons’ camps during 1990–2011. The article draws upon discussions with Pandits who contrast nostalgia for life in Kashmir with experiences of re-establishing social and political relationships after displacement. Place and migration here are both treated as contexts and products of social activity that involve considerations of objects, physical environment and communal relationships. The article will argue that discussions of place and home are marked by a tension between desires for reclaiming home and security, and the condition of uncertainty faced by groups like Kashmiri Pandits in the present.

The Kashmiri diaspora remembers the displacement: Implication and the challenge of healing

“…In this broader context in which Islamist ideals were coming to define azadi, militant and insurgent groups such as the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) suspected that Kashmiri Pandits were loyal to India rather than to their movement. These suspicions were partly motivated by exclusionary Islamist rhetoric and partly because Kashmiri Pandits were associated with employment in the state government (Rai, 2004) and mostly did not participate in the azadi protests (Datta, 2016a). By 1989, Kashmiri Muslims who were not formally part of militant groups also began participating in azadi protests -albeit without the weaponry -against the Jammu and Kashmir and Indian governments, indicating support for unification with Pakistan-administered Kashmir or secession from India (Ganguly, 2006).…”

Uncertainty in situations of forced displacement:Acritical interpretative synthesis of refugee literature

“…Yet it appears as if uncertainty is a characteristic of all these contexts. Several authors relate experiences of uncertainty to bureaucratic asylum procedures (Biehl, 2015;Brun, 2015;Dupont, Kaplan, Verbraeck, Braam, & van de Wijngaart, 2005;Hondius, van Willigen, Kleijn, & van der Ploeg, 2000;Stewart, 2004), to people's refugee status (Crock & Bones, 2015), to limited economic opportunities (Datta, 2016), or to the political and social situation of refugees (Becker et al, 2000;Beneduce, 2015;El-Shaarawi, 2015;Garakasha, 2014;White, 2012). But with the exception of some articles, it is rarely explained what this situation actually entails, and as a result, we learn very little about these contexts and the ways in which they produce uncertainty.…”