The Political Life Of Dead Bodies, Divine Sovereignty, and Indian Empire: The Question of Islam in Kashmir

Abstract: My paper focuses on indigenous sensibilities which is largely shaped by the orthodox sufi islamic practices( mysticism) which are not recognized by Islamic revival movements such as Ahle Hadith and Jamaat-e-Islaami. Rather its the the combination of Islamic practices, and some local cultural practices that constitute an important part of people's indigeneity. For example, singing in funerals, forms of intimacies, poetry as well as visiting graveyards of martyrs, and sprinkling the flowers over them. It also entails how the people are attached to shrines and practice Islam according to their local traditions rather than Islamic scriptures. In doing that, I demonstrate how secular power seeks to regulate and govern these religious subjectivities which are largely immersed within the local cultural practices of mourning.

Presenter bio: Ruhail Andrabi is Cultural Anthropologist whose dissertation examines the questions of sovereignty, Indigeneity, and Islamic revival movements. Specifically, how the Islamic discourses have problematized India's secularism, and Military occupation in Kashmir. Ruhail has previously worked with Coventry University as research Assistant, and Junior research fellow with Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi. Currently, he is working as Research fellow with Princeton, and Columbia University on the Project “Muslims in India”. To give a sense of thinking on these and other topics, some of the writers who have captivated his imagination in recent years are Edward Said, Walter Benjamin, Sylvia Wynter, Charles Taylor, Micheal Foucault, and Ludwig wittgenstein. He is broadly interested in Sociology of emotions, Anthropology of power, and Political life of spaces, and objects.His writings have appeared in Caravan; Norragg; Space and Polity; Theory, Culture & Society; Inverse Journal; Frontier Post and HarperCollins India and Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming cultural critique.

Affiliation: UC San Diego