Beyond Lines of Control

Aggarwal Ravina Aggarwal

Description

The Kashmir conflict, the ongoing border dispute between India and Pakistan, has sparked four wars and cost thousands of lives. In this innovative ethnography, Ravina Aggarwal moves beyond conventional understandings of the conflict-which tend to emphasize geopolitical security concerns and religious essentialisms-to consider how it is experienced by those living in the border zones along the Line of Control, the 435-mile boundary separating India from Pakistan. She focuses on Ladakh, the largest region in northern India's State of Jammu and Kashmir. Located high in the Himalayan and Korakoram ranges, Ladakh borders Pakistan to the west and Tibet to the east. Revealing how the shadow of war affects the lives of Buddhist and Muslim communities in Ladakh, Beyond Lines of Control is an impassioned call for the inclusion of the region's cultural history and politics in discussions about the status of Kashmir.Aggarwal brings the insights of performance studies and the growing field of the anthropology of international borders to bear on her extensive fieldwork in Ladakh. She examines how social and religious boundaries are created on the Ladakhi frontier, how they are influenced by directives of the nation-state, and how they are shaped into political struggles for regional control that are legitimized through discourses of religious purity, patriotism, and development. She demonstrates in lively detail the ways that these struggles are enacted in particular cultural performances such as national holidays, festivals, rites of passage ceremonies, films, and archery games. By placing cultural performances and political movements in Ladakh center stage, Aggarwal rewrites the standard plot of nation and border along the Line of Control.

Sujets

• International relations
• Biological anthropology

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 30 novembre 2004
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822385899
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

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B E YO N D L I N E S O F C O N T RO L

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B E YO N D L I N E S O F C O N T RO L

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Performance and Politics on the

Disputed Borders of Ladakh, India

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R A V I N A A G G A R W A L

Duke University Press Durham and London 

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©  Duke University Press

All rights reserved

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Designed by Amy Ruth Buchanan

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in-Publication Data appear on the

last printed page of this book.

C O N T E N T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Borders Performed 

 Staging Independence Day 

 Observing Rituals in the Inner Line Zone 

 Screening a Contested Landscape 

 Songs of Honor, Lines of Descent 

 Border Games 

Conclusion: Flowing across the Lines 

Notes 

References 

Index 

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘‘Tread slowly, tread slowly, or don’t tread at all, under your pen are a thou- sand lives,’’ a religious scholar in Ladakh said to me, quoting a modification of a verse in which a Persian poet had once referred to the thousand lives that lay under the feet of his beloved. Perhaps the number of lives affected by my pen will never figure in the thousands; nevertheless, these words resonated with me as I grappled with writing about the subject of conflict in a place that I have come to love over the past fourteen years. My steps toward this project faltered, retreated, and moved forward again, and the list of people who helped me through it grew longer and longer. Without the inspiration, hospitality, and wisdom of Sonam Phuntsog, I may never have returned to this book. I am also deeply indebted to the vil- lagers of Achinathang, most of whom remain unnamed even though, after much deliberation, I have chosen to identify their village because my name is already associated with it in permit papers filed with state authorities. The creative energy of Ali Mohammad, Apo Roziali, Bashir Ahmed Wafa, Master Sadiq Ali, Mipham Otsal, Morup Namgyal, Nasser Hussain Munshi, Niyaz Munshi, Phuntsog Dinbir, Sukye Bulu, Tashi Tshomo, Tsheshu Lhamo, and Zainul Abideen was instrumental in my understanding of performances in Achinathang, Leh, and Kargil. Tshering Samphel, Rigzin Johra, Thup- stan Tshewang, Councilor Spalzes Angmo, Akbar Ladakhi, Azgar Karbalai, Shafi Lasoo, Hassan Khan, Gulzar Munshi, Spalzes Angmo, Rigzin Spalbar, Maulvi Omar, Wangchug Tshao, Thinles Angmo, Tshangspai Chocho, and

viii

Acknowledgments

Ghulam Ali answered with grace difficult questions I posed about Ladakhi politics. Togldan Rinpoche generously made available monastic records of Achinathang. The Jammu and Kashmir Cultural Academy, the Tourist De- partment, the Information Department, the District Development Commis- sioner’s Office, the Jammu and Kashmir State Archives, and the District Evaluation and Statistical Agency in Leh provided me with access to gov- ernment documents when I needed them. Abdul Ghani Sheikh worked col- laboratively with me in ways that always broadened my scholarship. Tashi Morup provided enthusiastic research assistance in –. The writings and comments of Ladakhologists Nicola Grist, Martijn van Beek, Kristoffer Bertelsen, John Bray, Patrick Kaplanian, and Kim Gutschow, were invalu- able in framing my ethnographic understandings about Ladakh. With Mo- nisha Ahmed I shared many experiences and ideas during the course of our research. Gelong Konchok Phandey, Kacho Sikander Khan, Abdul Qayum, Tshering Tashi, Phuntsog Tshering and Skarma Tshering Delegs, Akbar Ran- gar, No Tshering, Gelong Chottak Lagrug, and Tashi Rabgias enriched my knowledge of Ladakhi culture through lessons, interviews, and suggestions. For their hospitality in Ladakh, I am grateful to the members of the Achinapa house, the Oriental Guesthouse, Jigmet Guesthouse, Uletokpo Camp, Yasmin Guesthouse, Hotel D’Zojila, and the families of Jaffer Khan, Spalbar Goba, Anayat Ali, Wangchug Fargo, and the Munshi family. Phuntsog Wangchug Uletokpo, Nawang, Chondol, Dawa, Bashir, Matin Chungka, Tshering Wang- chug Pinto, Angchug Karpotok, Karma Dolma, Raza Abbasi, Sonam Bahadur, and Celene Rego made me feel at home by helping me take care of the logistics of food, communication, and travel. The guidance of my professors, John Macia, Myrdene Anderson, Richard Bauman, Michael Jackson, Bonnie Kendall, Elliot Sperling, Joelle Bahloul, and Michael Herzfeld in particular, was formative in shaping my academic path. Research grants from Smith College made travel to Ladakh possible. Among my colleagues at Smith, I owe thanks to Elliot Fratkin, Reyes Lazaro, Susan van Dyne, Elizabeth Harries, and especially Frederique Apffel-Marglin, who stood by me in difficult times. I am enormously indebted to Suzanne Zhang-Gottschang for sustaining me with laughter and intellectual companionship, to Piya Chatterjee for her passionate commitment to her friends and to the ethics of research, to Kamala Visweswaran for her challenging mind and methodological rigor, to Geeta Patel, Debbora Battaglia, and Frank Korom for honoring my requests even at short notice, to Srirupa Roy for her resourcefulness and readiness to discuss

Acknowledgments

ix

issues of cultural nationalism, to Agha Shahid Ali for his faith in the resilience of poetic expression despite personal and political crisis, and to my friends in other places, Amili Setalvad, Leyla Ezdinli, Subur Munjee, N. Radhakrish- nan, Avi Ghosh, Kai Friese, Giles Khan, Anjali Aarondekar, Sonia Jabbar, Lalit Vachani, Ashok Seth, Mamta Sekhri, Sujata Narula, Murzban Shroff, Nisha Bhandari, Malini Ghose, and Rashné Rustomjee for many stimulating con- versations over the years. Thanks also to Inderpal Grewal, Kirin Narayan, and David Holmberg, who read an earlier draft of the manuscript. Ken Wissoker’s insights into interdisciplinary research and his generous and open editorial style; the efficiency and promptness of Christine Dahlin, Kate Lothman, and the staff at Duke University Press; and Kelly Gottschang’s help with map-making made the last stages quicker and enjoyable. My par- ents, Ravinder and Bina, were unceasing in their support, and other mem- bers of my family, Radhika, Archana, Ritika, the Dhingras, the Wheelers, and the Foxes, kept me going with their affection. Christopher Wheeler brought my ideas alive with his camera, offered editorial comments, helped me pack and unpack, and crossed numerous boundaries for me with patience and tenderness.