On Uncertain Ground

How do societies come to terms with dispossession, loss, nomadic existence, and protracted displacement? What does it mean to be a refugee in one's own state? Centring on these questions, the current volume seeks to explore the lives of the Kashmiri Pandits-the Hindu Pandit minority of Kashmir Valley-and their experience of forced migration and the conflict over Jammu and Kashmir.

Since 1989, Jammu and Kashmir has been affected by conflict between the Indian state and a movement demanding independence. As a result of this conflict, thousands of Kashmiri Pandits have left the valley and sought refuge in different parts of India, especially Jammu and New Delhi. Addressing the themes of violence, suffering, and victimhood in the context of forced migration, On Uncertain Ground explores the experiences of Kashmiri Pandits as they rebuild their lives after displacement, and their relationship to the Indian state and Indian and Kashmiri nationalisms. Focusing on 'camp colonies' and the lives of Kashmiri Pandits across Jammu and New Delhi, this book reveals the tension between the recovery of everyday life and the inability to feel at home and find one's place in the world.