ABSTRACT
Although one of the central ways in which the Indian state functions in Kashmir is by disabling Kashmiris (psychologically, physically, economically), the frameworks of disability studies have remained distant from Kashmir studies. In this chapter I seek to place Critical Kashmir Studies in conversation with some predominant strands of disability studies, globally and in India. I begin by suggesting what a disability analysis may illuminate in the context of Kashmir, suggesting in particular how a feminist disability analysis could be useful to understanding the processes of occupation and settler colonization in Kashmir. At the same time, I explore how attention to the zone of occupation speaks back to some of the dominant frames of disability studies, including Indian disability studies, which has marked itself as part of a decolonizing turn in disability studies without confronting the role of Indian settler colonialism in actively producing disability. I argue that “southern theories of disability” must engage the fact of colonialism within the global south, and that Indian disability studies must begin an active engagement with the field of Critical Kashmir Studies in order to challenge the production of disability by the settler colonial order in Kashmir. Finally, I explore how Kashmiris have effectively resisted their debilitation through acts of imagination and community care.
