Territory of Desire: Representing the Valley of Kashmir

by Ananya Jahanara Kabir

Book by Kabir, Ananya Jahanara

Genres: History, Nonfiction, India

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Sohane Amira · Rating 4 out of 5]

The descriptions and analysis in this book are incredibly interesting for anyone interested in colonialism and gender as working together. I found myself drawing on Kabir’s analysis of Kashmir as a space of desire that has been gendered for other nations and regions. The book really has a lot to say for anyone interested in looking at colonialism in a different way: opening up the field of post colonialism to more gendered and literary explorations. There is also some heavy nods to Jacques Derrida and the concept of trace in language, and so too to Spivak. When Kabir writes “who speaks in Kashmir and on whose behalf?” (137) it is difficult not to think back to ‘Can the Subaltern speak’.

I think philosophers of language and epistemology would to have much to take from this book, especially in the current effort to decolonize and contextualise philosophy in its history.