Description
This paper will examine how rap has become a key site for negotiating Kashmiri identity under conditions of intensified state control after 2019. It focuses on how young Kashmiri artists use rap to construct voice, belonging and political subjectivity in a restricted public sphere.
Indian occupied Kashmir is one of the most heavily militarised zones in the world and has witnessed widespread human rights violations, including rapes, killings, torture, and enforced disappearances. In 2019, the Indian government revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which had granted the region semi-autonomous status, while placing the entire population under lockdown. Scholars link these changes to a shift towards settler-colonial practices, including legal land reorganisation that enables dispossession and opens the sale of land to non-Kashmiris for military and industrial purposes. Following the 2019 abrogation, the valley was placed under a digital siege marked by communication blockades, internet restrictions, censorship and heightened surveillance. In this context, the paper aims to bring attention to the voice of young Kashmiris, who are caught amidst dispossession, settler colonialism, surveillance and censorship.
Drawing on analysis of lyrics and visual performance from digital platforms, this paper will demonstrate how rappers articulate experiences of surveillance, dispossession and everyday violence. It situates these practices within global hip hop traditions of resistance, while engaging International Relations debates on power, voice and representation. The paper’s central claim is that Kashmiri rap is not only a form of protest but also a cultural practice through which artists make sense of their lives and assert agency under constraint. In doing so, it contributes to debates on culture and politics in conflict and settler colonial contexts.