Paper short abstract:

This paper explores commemoration in the case of displaced Kashmiri Hindus who recreate the past by constructing replicas of Hindu shrines from Kashmir. Through an ethnographic engagement with these replicas I argue that such projects are symbols of the future related to a new political community.

Paper long abstract:

Questions of memory among have often emerged in studies of forced migrants. This paper seeks to discuss the ways forced migrants express their history in public through the prism of commemoration by taking the case of the Hindu minority of Kashmir, better known as the Kashmiri Pandits. Following the outbreak of conflict in the Kashmir valley in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir, the Kashmiri Pandits were displaced from their homes seeking shelter in cities such as Jammu and New Delhi where they have lived since.

Since their displacement different groups of Kashmiri Pandits have engaged in projects to construct replicas of Hindu shrines from Kashmir. These projects are carried out to ostensibly preserve traditions and allow a way for displaced Pandits to visit sites they are otherwise unable to due to the current conflict in Kashmir. By focusing on one particular replica in Jammu, I will discuss the politics around these shrines. While the shrines are regarded as symbols of a lost past being recovered, many Pandits regard the replica as an insufficient substitute, remaining 'artificial' as opposed to the 'original' shrine in Kashmir. The experiences of the replica also contrast with personal memories of visiting the original shrine in Kashmir. Hence this paper suggests that acts of commemoration are subject to contestation within a community. They are not symbols of a past, but rather are symbols of a future and must be seen as tentative attempts to produce a new sense of political community.