Dr. Haley Duschinsk
Dr. Haley Duschinski recently co-authored a column in Open Democracy titled “The International Community Must Intervene on Kashmir: Kashmiris Need Self-Determination, Not Military Occupation.”
Duschinski is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Law, Justice & Culture at Ohio University.
The article addresses the current military siege and human rights crisis in Kashmir, which includes an indefinite curfew and total communications blockade.
The Kashmir siege has been in place for more than one month. You can follow developing events on Professor Duschinski’s Twitter account, @AnthroHaley.
Professor Duschinski is a legal and political anthropologist whose longterm ethnographic field research focuses on Kashmir.
She is a co-founder of the Critical Kashmir Studies collective of academic researchers studying sovereignty, counterinsurgency, settler colonialism, occupation and resistance in Kashmir.
In 2018, she co-edited the book Resisting Occupation in Kashmir with Mona Bhan, Ather Zia, and Cynthia Mahmood (University of Pennsylvania Press).
- Learn more about Critical Kashmir Studies from #TheKashmirSyllabus, released in August 2019.
Professor Duschinski is also part of the Kashmir Scholars Consultative and Action Network (KSCAN), which has been engaging in advocacy efforts in response to the current crisis.
- Read KSCAN letters and policy documents addressing the human rights crisis in Kashmir at this link.
Across the past 18 months, Professor Duschinski has been conducting research at United Nations Human Rights Council Sessions in Geneva.
She most recently attended the 41st Session of the Human Rights Council in June 2019.
Her research examines the ways in which the Kashmir international dispute is discussed and debates in international human rights forums.
The recent Open Democracy article is co-authored with Mona Bhan and Goldie Osuri.
From the essay:
The Modi administration’s undemocratic revocation of the semi-autonomous status of the State of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on August 5 through what legal scholars are terming an illegal and unconstitutional process is being proclaimed the death of Indian democracy.
Beyond such proclamations, the revocation has taken place in conditions of an intensified military occupation. Since midnight on August 4, authorities have instituted a blockade on communications in the region including internet services, mobile connectivity, and landlines as well as an around-the-clock curfew. Approximately 40,000 extra troops have been flown in, in addition to the half a million already present. The lockdown has been unprecedented even for Kashmir. Over 800 civilians including Kashmir’s political leadership, Chamber of Commerce members, Bar Association President, civil society actors, and human rights defenders have been arrested en masse.
…
The annexation of Kashmir is the latest move by the Modi administration, performed by abolishing the special status of J&K and bifurcating the region into two Union Territories. This move sets the scene for India’s inauguration of an Israeli-style settler colonialism. For the first time in the modern era, non-Kashmiris may be able to buy land and become permanent residents in Kashmir. This prospect will change the demography of the state, potentially destroying the political identity of Kashmiris through a process of ethnic cleansing.
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