The Borderline Discourse of Home and History: Locating the Trauma Narratives in Kashmir Literature.

Abstract

The paper attempts the study of trauma, the causes, its impacts and addresses the presence and depiction of traumatic events on characters living in Kashmir which is a major conflict zone between India and Pakistan since the partition in 1947. Directed by violence, commotion and unrest, the Kashmiri community was subjected to enforced militarization of the state. The people of Kashmir are put to a critical situation where they are made to choose between India and Pakistan. Their plight turns worst when the interference of political manipulations prevents the apparent choice that they seemingly enjoy. Trauma theorists have proposed that events like war, colonization, holocaust etc. could impact major communities as a whole and their memoirs. The study finds that it is strong enough to change their identity, and transform them to a compromised one. The mostly used words in these narratives are the checkpoints, walls, fences, and blockades etc, the evident symbols of tension which forms the backdrop of contemporary Kashmiri Literature. Post-Colonial perceptions of hybridity and subalternity along with the idiosyncrasies of victims, the representations of a distorted history, and a tormented memory in Kashmiri Literature, are traced through this study.