Kashmir

How Kashmiris are denied their humanity. Alive or dead.

 

 

Lens Firdous Qadri The Kashmiriyat

It took me a little while to react. It is not the first time horrific images flicker by from Kashmir. Not the first time seeing these pictures and feeling like a hard punch just hit solar plexus. This is no exception. Nothing new. Brutal as every other day. And then the reaction. Stomach twisting and disbelief pouring in the veins. India already killed the man. Soldiers/police pumped 35 bullets into his body. They did it when he was taking care of his animals. He was carefully closing the door to the sheep shed. Unarmed, alone and most likely still in the pyjama and yet dozens of soldiers emptied their guns in his chest. 35 bullets and nothing will ever be the same. What they did after left me breathless and convinced that humanity is already as dead as the boy on the stretcher. They already killed this young bag-maker and his body is lifted to the sky by friends and family. His body is doing its last journey with thousands of Kashmiris attached to him like a grieving tale. That’s when punch two hits.

Lens Umar Ganie The Kashmir monitor

Because Saleem Malik is already dead, already killed for no reason. 35 bullets. But I see Indian forces stopping his mother from reaching the body. I see his father beyond this world in grief and tear-gas raining over the lifeless body. The air thick of smoke and the boys navigating stoically to not drop Saleem. They run and try to balance the dead body and it rocks from side to side. His face is pale and the voices urging the tale forward.  My throat feels narrow and my mind is full of questions. They already killed him, why attack his funeral procession? Where are the limits? The normal limits that kick in when other humans are injured. The limits that stop us from hurting others and makes it impossible to indulge in acts that of course are crimes when looking at it from a legal angle, and even more so a disastrous collapse if we have our moral glasses on.

Lens Habib Naqash/Greater Kashmir

Saleem’s body is safe on the shoulders of these young men. They carry him through the tear-gas towards Srinagar’s EidGah. In any other place, regarding any other people, the headlines would not give these images a break and our politicians would condemn strongly in one unison voice. Saleem Malik would be known across the globe and his culprits would be hunted down before dawn. This is where punch number 3 hits. Because instead of condemnations and images flooding the news, there is nothing like that to be seen. Instead we see Indian media frantically pump out the news that militants were hiding in the area and that Saleem could even be one himself. That the family and all witnesses tell that no militants were in the house or even in the area, is brushed under the thickest rug. On social media a large “defence brigade” shout from the top of their lungs that he deserved it, he was a terrorist and many called for more Kashmiris to be killed without hesitation. “-Don’t spare them, even if they are children, women, young or old”, “-Well done our army”, “-They are all terrorists and animals, who deserve no mercy”. These type of messages are flooding Twitter and Facebook. In the rest of the world we hear nothing at all. A young animal lover and son is brutally murdered, to the rhythm of a compact silence. 35 bullets pumped into an unarmed man and the headlines all scream terrorist. They scream terrorist about an unarmed boy lying in a pool of blood, with a mother left with nothing but pain and a billion questions.

Lens Firdous Qadri The Kashmiryat

This is just one occasion of uncountable amounts of similar attacks by Indian forces on civilians, where no normal restraint is shown, no laws are followed and no remorse is shown. Kashmiris are reduced to some form of nothingness below the value of an animal. It is shocking and it is poisoning our minds to ignore everything that is normal, legal and morally acceptable any other day. It twists our brains to be forced to view the Kashmir issue through the Delhi lens and accept every line that is projected to us from the Indian news desks. Kashmiris are getting humiliated, raped, tortured and killed to the beat of prime time TV and we don’t even blink. Young Kashmiris get their bodies penetrated by hundreds of lead bullets, women and men get tortured in ways we can’t imagine, often with sexual violence involved, but we join the chorus and label them fanatics, secessionists and terrorists. Thousands of Kashmiris wait in vain for their sons, who left and never came back some 20 years ago, men like Saleem are executed in their homes with no mercy, and we listen to the Indian version and jump into the project the blame on the victims bandwagon.
We do so because we are fed the most significant method that exists to sustain the Status Quo.
The dehumanisation is not only seen and used by Delhi against dissident Kashmiris, it is passed on and nestled into our living-rooms, where we swallow the news as pistachio kulfi, with no reflections or fair objections. We buy the already parcelled perceptions and thus the images we produce of Kashmir and Kashmiris are fixed and ready. Our minds are saffronised and almost take the shape of the tricolore, and under that banner we hide the reality on the ground, that has been haunting the Kashmiri people for seven decades. In that fog of deception, we refuse to even give the victims the right to narrate their stories and even their death.

“The words we use about them, the stories we tell about theme, the images of them we produce, the emotions we associate with them, the ways we classify and conceptualize them, the values we place on them (Hall 1997).”

Humne kisko thoka? Who did we shoot?
Indian forces shot a young Kashmiri bag-maker, who didn’t only love animals and his family, but also cared for those in need of extra care, like his neighbours autistic son.
Indian forces pumped 35 bullets into a young Kashmiri man and killed not only him, but also all the people that loved him.
Indian forces killed Saleem. With 35 bullets. That is the non saffronised truth.

Article by:Her name is Bea

Fallen Chinar leaves and the art of keep moving on – Kashmir

November 22, 2017 2 Comments

 The air is crispy and the last leaves are falling on my late Autumn walk. They are falling and it is a time for reflection. A time to wonder where did the dreams we dreamt, the plans we made, the feelings we felt, actually go? A sober reminder to recall and make sense of our actions or maybe the times we chose not to act. Did we manage to climb another step on the expectation ladder? Did we do our obligations? Did we put our bets on the right horse? Did we fight for what we want and what we believe in? Did we care enough about our close ones, or did our priorities float astray to more shallow paths? Did we cherish what makes our hearts beat fast and souls feel fulfilled? Did we feed a homeless or shelter a refugee? Did we struggle for others justice, or did we get caught up in our own spinning wheels? Did we live or did we just breathe? And did we bother about how much oxygen also others are given? 

 

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Geo

1. Download the syllabus and get a print out. Read and understand the syllabus because a clear limit is set to each topic, so you need to know when and where to stop.
2. Buy the question bank of Anthropology. Start to analyse the percentage of questions coming every year (starting from 2005, as before 2005 the pattern of asking questions was a little different ).
3. In paper 1 start with the Unit 1 but only 1.7 (sub unit) The biological basis of life. (This will build the base for the most important Unit 9). Then straight away switch to Unit 9, Genetics. It is the most lengthy part plus quite many questions come from here. Also keep an alternative pattern of completing the syllabus i.e. switch between socio-part and bio-part, or else you will get bored with the monotony.
4. Evolution, Unit 1 can be a little boring but its a scoring part. (Take it seriously as most of the students tend to skip a large chunk from this unit).
5. In paper 2, Start the way it is but for now leave Unit 3.1 and 3.3, Unit 4 because it deals with the philosophical part plus theoretical part and also breaks the connection with rest of the forth coming topics. If you want you can complete this section at the end (entirely optional).
6. Surely make notes of tribal India because in paper 2 the syllabus is scattered and its little difficult to create a linkage.

P.S. Keep the syllabus with you when ever you are doing any topic and underline the topics completed because this way you will not only memorize the syllabus but also will be able to demarcate the extend of any topic.

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programming

Paper - I

1.1 Meaning, scope and development of Anthropology.

1.2 Relationships with other disciplines: Social Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, Earth Sciences and Humanities.

1.3 Main branches of Anthropology, their scope and relevance:

1. Social- cultural Anthropology.

2. Biological Anthropology.

3. Archaeological Anthropology.

4. Linguistic Anthropology.

1.4 Human Evolution and emergence of Man:

1. Biological and Cultural factors in human evolution.

2. Theories of Organic Evolution (Pre- Darwinian, Darwinian and Post-Darwinian).

3. Synthetic theory of evolution; Brief outline of terms and concepts of evolutionary biology (Doll’s rule, Cope’s rule, Gause’s rule, parallelism, convergence, adaptive radiation, and mosaic evolution).

1.5 Characteristics of Primates; Evolutionary Trend and Primate Taxonomy; Primate Adaptations; (Arboreal and Terrestrial) Primate Taxonomy; Primate Behaviour; Tertiary and Quaternary fossil primates; Living Major Primates; Comparative Anatomy of Man and Apes; Skeletal changes due to erect posture and its implications.

1.6 Phylogenetic status, characteristics and geographical distribution of the following:

1. Social Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, Earth Sciences and Humanities.

2. Homo erectus: Africa (Paranthropus), Europe (Homo erectus heidelbergensis), Asia (Homo erectus javanicus, Homo erectus pekinensis).

3. Neanderthal Man- La-Chapelle-aux-saints (Classical type), Mt. Carmel (Progressive type).

4. Rhodesian man.

5. Homo sapiens — Cromagnon, Grimaldi and Chancelede.

1.7 The biological basis of life: The Cell, DNA structure and replication, Protein Synthesis, Gene, Mutation, Chromosomes, and Cell Division.

1.8

1. Principles of Prehistoric Archaeology. Chronology: Relative and Absolute Dating methods.

2. Cultural Evolution- Broad Outlines of Prehistoric cultures:

1. Paleolithic

2. Mesolithic

3. Neolithic

4. Chalcolithic

5. Copper-Bronze Age

6. Iron Age

2.1 The Nature of Culture: The concept and characteristics of culture and civilization; Ethnocentrism vis-à-vis cultural Relativism.

2.2 The Nature of Society: Concept of Society; Society and Culture; Social Institutions; Social groups; and Social stratification.

2.3 Marriage: Definition and universality; Laws of marriage (endogamy, exogamy, hypergamy, hypogamy, incest taboo); Types of marriage (monogamy, polygamy, polyandry, group marriage). Functions of marriage; Marriage regulations (preferential, prescriptive and proscriptive); Marriage payments (bride wealth and dowry).

2.4 Family: Definition and universality; Family, household and domestic groups; functions of family; Types of family (from the perspectives of structure, blood relation, marriage, residence and succession); Impact of urbanization, industrialization and feminist movements on family.

2.5 Kinship: Consanguinity and Affinity; Principles and types of descent (Unilineal, Double, Bilateral, Ambilineal); Forms of descent groups (lineage, clan, phratry, moiety and kindred); Kinship terminology (descriptive and classificatory); Descent, Filiation and Complimentary Filiation; Descent and Alliance.

3. Economic organization: Meaning, scope and relevance of economic anthropology; Formalist and Substantivist debate; Principles governing production, distribution and exchange (reciprocity, redistribution and market), in communities, subsisting on hunting and gathering, fishing, swiddening, pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture; globalization and indigenous economic systems.

4. Political organization and Social Control: Band, tribe, chiefdom, kingdom and state; concepts of power, authority and legitimacy; social control, law and justice in simple societies.

5. Religion: Anthropological approaches to the study of religion (evolutionary, psychological and functional); monotheism and polytheism; sacred and profane; myths and rituals; forms of religion in tribal and peasant societies (animism, animatism, fetishism, naturism and totemism); religion, magic and science distinguished; magico- religious functionaries (priest, shaman, medicine man, sorcerer and witch).

6. Anthropological theories:

1. Classical evolutionism (Tylor, Morgan and Frazer)

2. Historical particularism (Boas); Diffusionism (British, German and American)

3. Functionalism (Malinowski); Structural- functionlism (Radcliffe-Brown)

4. Structuralism (L’evi – Strauss and E. Leach)

5. Culture and personality (Benedict, Mead, Linton, Kardiner and Cora – du Bois).

6. Neo – evolutionism (Childe, White, Steward, Sahlins and Service)

7. Cultural materialism (Harris)

8. Symbolic and interpretive theories (Turner, Schneider and Geertz)

9. Cognitive theories (Tyler, Conklin)

10. Post- modernism in anthropology

7. Culture, language and communication: Nature, origin and characteristics of language; verbal and non-verbal communication; social context of language use.

8. Research methods in anthropology:

1. Fieldwork tradition in anthropology

2. Distinction between technique, method and methodology

3. Tools of data collection: observation, interview, schedules, questionnaire, Case study, genealogy, life-history, oral history, secondary sources of information, participatory methods.

4. Analysis, interpretation and presentation of data.

9.1 Human Genetics – Methods and Application: Methods for study of genetic principles in man-family study (pedigree analysis, twin study, foster child, co-twin method, cytogenetic method, chromosomal and karyo-type analysis), biochemical methods, immunological methods, D.N.A. technology and recombinant technologies.

9.2 Mendelian genetics in man-family study, single factor, multifactor, lethal, sub-lethal and polygenic inheritance in man.

9.3 Concept of genetic polymorphism and selection, Mendelian population, Hardy-Weinberg law; causes and changes which bring down frequency – mutation, isolation, migration, selection, inbreeding and genetic drift. Consanguineous and non-consanguineous mating, genetic load, genetic effect of consanguineous and cousin marriages.

9.4 Chromosomes and chromosomal aberrations in man, methodology.

1. Numerical and structural aberrations (disorders).

2. Sex chromosomal aberrations – Klinefelter (XXY), Turner (XO), Super female (XXX), intersex and other syndromic disorders.

3. Autosomal aberrations – Down syndrome, Patau, Edward and Cri-du-chat syndromes.

4. Genetic imprints in human disease, genetic screening, genetic counseling, human DNA profiling, gene mapping and genome study.

9.5 Race and racism, biological basis of morphological variation of non-metric and metric characters. Racial criteria, racial traits in relation to heredity and environment; biological basis of racial classification, racial differentiation and race crossing in man.

9.6 Age, sex and population variation as genetic marker- ABO, Rh blood groups, HLA Hp, transferring, Gm, blood enzymes. Physiological characteristics-Hb level, body fat, pulse rate, respiratory functions and sensory perceptions in different cultural and socio-economic groups.

9.7 Concepts and methods of Ecological Anthropology. Bio-cultural Adaptations – Genetic and Non- genetic factors. Man’s physiological responses to environmental stresses: hot desert, cold, high altitude climate.

9.8 Epidemiological Anthropology: Health and disease. Infectious and non-infectious diseases. Nutritional deficiency related diseases.

10. Concept of human growth and development: stages of growth – pre-natal, natal, infant, childhood, adolescence, maturity, senescence. Factors affecting growth and development genetic, environmental, biochemical, nutritional, cultural and socio-economic. Ageing and senescence. Theories and observations – biological and chronological longevity. Human physique and somatotypes. Methodologies for growth studies.

11.1 Relevance of menarche, menopause and other bioevents to fertility. Fertility patterns and differentials.

11.2 Demographic theories- biological, social and cultural.

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