Talk by Suvaid Yaseen (Asian Studies, Hamilton College)

The history of Muslim political thought in the disputed Kashmir region of South Asia has largely been narrated within the national frameworks of India and Pakistan, and often overdetermined by security concerns, especially when it comes to Islamic movements. This talk addresses the politics of the colonial and postcolonial archives regarding such Muslim actors and suggests alternative lines of inquiry. It reflects upon a range of literary materials produced by the intellectuals of Islamic movements in Kashmir. It proposes listening as a practice as well as a metaphor to question the hitherto employed analytical and narrative categories. In doing so, it examines the complexities of Islamic articulations in Kashmir on its own terms.

Suvaid Yaseen is a historian of South Asia with an interest in contested sovereignties, Islam, and intellectual history. He completed his PhD in History from Brown University and is currently a visiting assistant professor in the Asian Studies program at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.