Jones Faculty Lecture by Hafsa Kanjwal, Associate Professor of History

“Settler Colonialism and the Weaponization of Indigeneity in Kashmir and Beyond”

In this talk, Professor Hafsa Kanjwal will discuss her new research on the limits and possibilities of constructions of indigeneity in South and Central Asia, especially in the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir. By examining the writings of British colonial officials as well as “anti-colonial” Indian nationalists, she argues that they overlap in constructing exclusive notions of indigeneity in the region. They positioned Hindus as “aborigines” or “indigenous” and Muslims as “foreign.” In the case of Kashmir, this construction helped facilitate India’s settler-colonial ambitions in Kashmir in a global moment of decolonization. The weaponization of indigeneity worked to undermine calls for Kashmiri self-determination.  Drawing from other contemporary settler colonial contexts, Prof. Kanjwal highlights how strategic claims of indigeneity serve to justify military occupation, land grabs, and displacement. In doing so, she encourages us to consider the ways in which constructions of indigeneity beyond the “classic” cases of settler-colonialism in the Americas and Australia, help facilitate—not counter—settler colonial logics. Instead, she offers some preliminary thoughts on how alternate frameworks of indigeneity can still be useful for a context like Kashmir. 

The talk is sponsored by the Thomas Roy and Lura Forest Jones Faculty Lecture and Awards Fund, established in 1966 to recognize superior teaching and scholarship at Lafayette College.