Property as Territory: Land, Politics and Religion in Kashmir
Lunch talk des College of Fellows mit Dr. Iymon Majid (Global Encounters Fellow)
am Freitag, den 12. Dezember 2025 um 12 Uhr in der Villa Köstlin (Seminarraum)
Abstract:
In this talk, I examine the relationship between land, politics, and religion through the case of Kashmir. In August 2019, the Indian state abrogated Articles 370 and 35A of its constitution, dismantling constitutional provisions that had granted partial autonomy and protected land rights in Kashmir. Subsequent laws removed further safeguards on land ownership. The new legislation was especially directed against the land reforms of 1948 in Kashmir. While these recent laws have been widely interpreted through the logic of settler colonialism, earlier land lands have been framed within the discourse of developmental modernity. Rather than viewing the two as distinct strategies, I argue both reveal a continuous logic: the juridical reconfiguration of property as the means through which the Indian state secures territory and forecloses sovereignty.
