Freedom in Captivity

"How do borderland dwellers living along militarised frontiers negotiate regimes of state security and their geopolitical location in everyday life? What might 'freedom' mean to those who do not resist captivity engendered by borders? Focusing on the predicaments of a double-minority, Freedom in Captivity examines the affective attachments, political imaginaries and ethical claims-making among the Shi'a Muslims of Kargil in the union territory of Ladakh, India. In contrast to calls for freedom in the Kashmir Valley, Shi'as on the frontiers of Kashmir have sought belonging to India. Yet they do not entirely succumb to its hegemonic ideological boundaries. Departing from the dominant focus on physical cross-border mobility, this book is an invitation to re-imagine borderlands as cartographies of ideas, cutting across spatial scales. Based on original ethnographic research conducted between 2008 and 2021, the book offers a unique longue-durâee insight into the lives of people residing at the intersections of the biggest states in Asia"--