People's History of Kashmir

What does it mean for a people to fight for freedom and their own history? For generations, Kashmiris have struggled against conquest, partition, occupation, and the denial of self-determination. Since 2019, the Indian state has intensified another battle: rewriting Kashmir's past, silencing dissent, and erasing the history of its freedom struggle.A People's History of Kashmir tells the story of modern Kashmir—from Dogra rule to the dramatic transformations after 2019—from the perspective of the people who lived it. Drawing on oral histories, Kashmiri writings, archives, and recent scholarship, it joins a long tradition of Kashmiris who have documented their own past in the face of censorship, repression, and historical erasure.At a time when struggles over land, sovereignty, memory, and justice are reshaping political life across the world, Kashmir offers a vital lens on colonialism, militarization, and popular movements for freedom. This history is not only about Kashmir, but about the questions that define our present.