Vol. 40 No. 1 (2020)

We are delighted to bring you HIMALAYA Volume 40, Number 1, with its emphasis on Kashmir, a Himalayan region that has witnessed decades of wars and military occupation, and remains one of the most densely militarized regions in the world. Yet the dominant scholarship on the region, at least until recently, erased critical histories and counter narratives, and privileged state-based perspectives that had little to no resonance with the everyday complexities of people’s lives in this deeply contested area in the Himalaya. Popular framings of Kashmir continue to view it as a bilateral dispute between two warring nation-states, India and Pakistan. Such perspectives ignore Kashmiris’ longstanding resistance to despotic regimes, and their aspirations for azadi (Urdu. freedom), that predate the formation of India and Pakistan. This special issue of HIMALAYA offers a much needed corrective by centering Kashmiri perspectives on politics, wars, militarization, and occupation, while attesting to multifaceted struggles for rights, justice, and accountability.