Beyond Lines of Control: Performance and Politics on the Disputed Borders of Ladakh, India By Ravina Aggarwal
2004 | 320 Pages | ISBN: 0822334283 | PDF | 2 MB
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, is an impassioned call for the inclusion of the region's cultural history and politics in discussions about the status of Kashmir.