The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast

This is the third episode of the Zanaan Wanaan Podcast: Season 2 titled 'Why We Write.' 

In this episode, Sadaf Wani talks to award-winning Kashmiri author Farah Bashir about her journey as a writer and the conception of her critically acclaimed book "Rumours of Spring: A Girlhood in Kashmir."

Tune into the second part of the conversation where Sadaf, Aashna and Samia talk about the audiences they have in mind whilst writing, the works they are inspired by, reflect on the publishing process- what are some of the challenges they face and finally share some advice for aspiring writers in Kashmir.

Available on Spotify and ZW website.

#ZanaanWanaan #ZWPodcast

This is the first episode of the Zanaan Wanaan Podcast: Season 2 titled 'Why We Write.'

In this episode, Sadaf Wani, Aashna Jamal, and Samia Mehraj delve into their unique journeys as writers, shedding light on the diverse paths that led them to the world of storytelling.

In the first part of the podcast, they discuss the challenges they faced while growing up in Kashmir, where pursuing creative interests often clashes with societal expectations. They share personal anecdotes, providing a glimpse into the circumstances that inform their writing and the various modes of expression they explored along the way. The discussion offers valuable insights into the intersection of language, culture, and creative expression.

In the final episode of season one of The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast, we discuss Sociology and Anthropology as an academic discipline in the context of Kashmir. The episode discusses the shift from the colonial origins of this discipline to indigenous knowledge production, incarceration and criminological discourses, research in social work, Kashmiri women's scholarship and methodologies like participant observation, auto-ethnography, phenomenology and long term immersion in the field. For this episode we were joined by three brilliant researchers:

Mir Fatimah Kanth is pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego. She holds a Master's in International Politics from SOAS, UK, supported through the Commonwealth Scholarship. Previously, she worked as a researcher at a civil liberties and human rights organisation in Srinagar.

Janees Lanker has done her Bachelors and Masters in Anthropology at University of Delhi. She is also a theatre practitioner and facilitator with a Delhi-based feminist, leftist theatre group, 'Pandies'. Presently she is based in Srinagar where is trying to base her anthropological training within the scope of ethnographic research in Kashmir.

Roonaq un Nisa is a PhD Scholar at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Her research is focussed on the experiences of families of women prisoners in Kashmir, highlighting gendered consequences of imprisonment. For her M.Phil. research, she explored the far-reaching effects of imprisonment and the intersectionality between criminal justice system and families to broaden the scope for criminal justice in social work.

In the eighth episode of The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast, we discuss English Literature as an academic discipline in the context of Kashmir. This episode discusses the need to build a collective memory through literature, the scope and opportunities in this discipline, interdisciplinary research methodologies, the concepts of deconstruction of language, trauma theory and emerging online spaces as witness libraries. For this episode we were joined by three brilliant researchers:

Juvaria Syed is currently a research scholar at the Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad. She did her Bachelors and Masters degree in English Literature from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi. For her current research, she is exploring the politics of formation and imagination of community in conflict zones, with a special focus on Kashmir.

Seema Bashir is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of English, University of Kashmir. Her area of research is Cyberpunk Literature where she focuses on the existential dilemma in an increasingly technological age. Her poems on the themes of loss, pain, oppression and the subsequent resistance to the same have appeared in Cafe Dissensus, SetuMag USA and Bosphorous Review.

Gulbahar Shah is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia. Her research focuses on the problematization of the representation of trauma through the medium of graphic narratives by analysing select works by Joe Sacco, Art Spiegelman and emerging graphic artists from Kashmir like Malik Sajad. Her research thesis addresses the question of articulation of trauma in conjunction with trauma theory.

In the seventh episode of The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast, we discuss Media as an academic discipline in the context of Kashmir. This episode discusses the need for storytelling to amplify the narratives from Kashmir, the challenges confronting Kashmiri women journalists, the politics of institutional affiliation, the perplexities in media practice due to censorship and the changing dynamics of this field due to social media and emerging technologies. For this episode, we were joined by three brilliant journalists and researchers from this discipline:

Ifat Gazia is currently pursuing her PhD in communications with specialisation in film at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her PhD research looks at the intersection of identity, technology and memory. She previously has a degree in Media from SOAS, University of London. She is a recipient of UMass Research Enhancement and Leadership Fellowship and also the Muslim Women in Media Fellowship 2020 awarded by Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Cultures (EWIC). She is the founder and host of The Kashmir Podcast.

Ashwaq Masoodi is an award winning journalist, who most recently was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Ashwaq has been working as a longform writer for almost a decade, covering the lives of the minorities in India. She has reported from 22 Indian states.

Bisma Bhat is a Kashmiri journalist who reports on education, conflict and crime. She has a Master's degree in Convergent Journalism from Central University of Kashmir. After her Master's, she joined The Kashmir monitor, a local english daily of Kashmir where she worked for 3 years. Presently, she is working with the weekly local magazine, Free Press Kashmir, as a reporter. Her stories have also featured in news portals such as First Post, Article 14, The Wire and Gaon connection. She has also been a winner of the Sanjay Ghose Media Award 2020.

In the sixth episode of The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast, we discuss Psychology as an academic discipline in the context of Kashmir. The episode addresses the importance of destigmatising and decolonising mental health discourses, the role of critical research that is context sensitive and the need for more mental health professionals in a militarised conflict. For this episode, we were joined by three dynamic professionals and researchers in the field:

Zoya Mir is a gold medalist, a Beck Certified CBT therapist and a practicing clinical psychologist. She has done license courses in Motivational Interviewing for Addiction, Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing and Solution Focused Brief Therapy. She has several publications in local and online portals and has published a paper on the Effect of Armed Conflict on Mental Health of Youth in Kashmir. She conducts community level workshops in pre-schools, schools and colleges- with children, teachers and parents.

Zahida War is an aspiring mental health professional currently pursuing a mental health fellowship at Pause for Perspective, Hyderabad, India. Her practice is queer affirmative and incorporates different therapeutic techniques in sessions. As part of her fellowship, Zahida is also facilitating an online support group for Kashmiri women to hold space for experiences - the hardships and challenges they face in negotiating their daily routine and support systems present. Zahida’s previous education qualifications include an MSc in War and Psychiatry at King’s College London, a B.A. Honours in Psychology and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Research at Ashoka University where she completed a thesis on Resilience in Kashmir. She further completed her masters dissertation on the mental health of women living in Kashmir with an aim to identify psychosocial factors leading to poor mental health Outcomes.

Asma Nisar has completed a B.A. Honours in Psychology and an M.A. in Psychology from Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi. After that she did an MPhil in Social Science with a focus on Psychology from TISS Mumbai and is currently pursuing her PhD there. She is working with Muslim women and the focus of her research is identity formation in Muslim women. She is trying to understand how their religious, social and gender identities intersect and influence the way they perceive and are perceived in the society. She has also been working at Ambedkar University Delhi since 2019 as an Assistant Professor (visiting faculty) and has taught various papers in Psychology to undergraduate students.

In the fifth episode of The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast, we discuss Political Science and International Relations as an academic discipline in the context of Kashmir. The episode discusses the role of identities in shaping up research interests, the merits of inter-disciplinary research within this discipline, research methodologies like action research methodology, auto-ethnography & feminist methodology, the importance of academic freedom, ethical considerations within institutions and the need to decolonise knowledge production as well as institutional mechanisms. For this episode, we were joined by three brilliant researchers:

Amina Mahmood Mir is a doctoral researcher at the Centre of Study of Democracy, University of Westminster. Her doctoral research is about the right to self-determination and regional politics in the Kashmir conflict. In addition to doctoral research, she is working on a couple of other projects focusing on the higher education sector's challenges in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir. She also works as a digital learning student associate and very passionate about inclusive learning practices. 

Ain ul Khair is a PhD Candidate at Central European University, working on the inter-generational transformation of the colonised body using Autoethnography as their methodological tool and decolonial turn as the theoretical framework. They are also the co-founder of South/South Movement which is a transnational student collective invested in promoting research and researchers from the Global South.

Madiha Nisar is an MPhil research scholar currently associated with Centre of Development Practice Ambedkar University, New Delhi. Her field-immersion work is along-with Gujjar Women based in Kashmir. She has spent time with Kondha Adivasi women in Odisha as a part of her research project. Her research interests are centred around co-thinking philosophical inquiries around gendered suffering, spirituality, and rethinking field methodology from “on” to ‘with”. Previously, she did her master's degree in International Politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has interned with various organisations in Delhi and Kashmir focussing on pressing politico-social issues.

In the fourth episode of The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast, we discuss STEM as a stream in the context of Kashmir. With a focus on physics and computer science, this episode discusses the need for a shift in sciences beyond Medicine and Engineering, the application of STEM in research and practice, the importance of representation to address the gender parity in STEM, scope and opportunities offered by data sciences, coding etc. For this episode, we were joined by three wonderful students and practitioners in the field:

Arooj Khalil is enrolled in the graduate programme in Theoretical Physics at the Queen Mary University of London where she was awarded a scholarship. Previously, she studied Physics at Miranda House, University of Delhi. Her master's thesis explores the formation of protoplanetary discs around young stars and the problem of angular momentum. She has also carried out independent research on various papers of quantum entanglement and physical reality.

Insha Kanue has a Bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering from the Islamic University of Science and Technology. She was awarded the Naropa Fellowship in 2020 and Plaksha Tech Leaders Fellowship in 2021. She is currently working on her own startup, Byoul Agritech Solutions, which is a smart farming platform to monitor and control the crop field, automate agricultural tasks and provide data-driven decisions and predictions.  She is also a partner at a Logistics startup Fastbeetle.

Adeeba Tak is an undergraduate student studying physics and mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. She was awarded a full scholarship to pursue her undergraduate degree in 2018. She is interested in particle physics and has done her research for Snowmass in 2021.

In the third episode of The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast, we discuss History as an academic discipline in the context of Kashmir. The episode discusses the politics of history writing, evidence interpretation, the accessibility and importance of reliable sources in Kashmiri history, the systematic erasure of women from primary texts, the role of institutions in conducting research in this discipline and the significance of oral narratives. For this episode, we were joined by three dynamic students and early career researchers in the field:

Aakriti Suresh is a PhD Scholar at the Department of History, University of Hyderabad. Her current research aims to inquire into the environmental history and political ecology of Kashmir under the Dogra rule. She is also interested in, and has explored, the ideas of gender, poetry and oral traditions in the context of premodern Kashmir.

Malik Irtiza is an independent artist currently based in Srinagar. She recently graduated from the University of Delhi in History Honours. Since then she has been developing her research based on art practice. Her practice is informed by her training in history and her personal narratives. Through her research she is trying to understand the everyday-ness of life in conflict zones, especially of women's experiences in Kashmir.

Mahia Bashir completed her undergraduate degree at St Stephen's College, Delhi. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation taught by the Department of International History from the London School of Economics. She is interested in exploring global and transnational approaches towards the study of history.

In the second episode of The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast, we discuss Law as an academic discipline in the context of Kashmir. With a focus on human rights law and international law, this episode addresses the nexus between law and power, the need for evidence based research in this discipline, the importance of documentation for advocacy purposes, the challenges associated with redressal mechanisms and building institutionalised memory through law in Kashmir. For this episode, we were joined by three brilliant students and researchers from the field:

Misbah Reshi is a law student at Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi and a graduate from St. Stephen’s College. Misbah has contributed to various reports focusing on minority rights in India and human rights violation in Kashmir. She was recently awarded the Rhodes Scholarship, and will be applying to read the Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford University.

Adeela Firdous has graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Kashmir in 2020. She is currently working as a Law and Advocacy officer with a Delhi based organisation, Citizen Against Hate (Misaal). As an independent researcher, she has also presented two papers on the working of Laws in Kashmir at the Association of Asian Studies (AAS), USA supported by the grant of Henry Luce Foundation.

Zarka Shabir is currently a second year law student at Harvard Law School, Massachusetts, USA. She was born and raised in Srinagar and spent most of her life in Rawalpora. Zarka is interested in International Law and Human Rights.

In the first episode of The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast, we discuss Economics as an academic discipline and locate it in the context of Kashmir. The episode touches upon some critical aspects of economics including, but not limited to, the political economy of development, the scope of public policy and advocacy, the methodological approaches within the discipline and the need for critical examination of state welfare policies in Kashmir. For this we were joined by three dynamic researchers and practitioners from the field:

Aashna Jamal, a public finance management and governance professional with strategy consulting and embedded government experience, is currently based in Timor-Leste. Aashna has cross-cutting experience in governance, health, child protection, social protection and education sectors.

Mariam teaches Economics at the University of Kashmir. She is also a doctoral candidate in Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Mariam is interested in looking at development processes in conflict zones and ways to help reduce the cost of conflict on youth and their capabilities.

Mehak Dhaar works in the Department of Economics, University of Kashmir as a Senior Research Fellow. Her work focuses on the economy of Jammu and Kashmir, specifically focusing on the production aspect of the economy. Mehak is a prolific writer, contributing towards a better understanding of the local economic systems in a globally asymmetric structure.

The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast series deliberates conversations about academic disciplines and delves into the dynamic nature of research and work conducted by Kashmiri women. The first season of the podcast which will be released on April 1, 2021, is a culmination of a powerhouse of about 30 Kashmiri women students, researchers and practitioners across 9 academic disciplines. The speakers, who form a global network spread across continents and time zones, have connected together to create an online reservoir of Kashmiri women working in different fields such as Law, Economics, Media, STEM, Anthropology, English Literature, Psychology, Political Science and History. These discussions address the relevance of each discipline in the context of work on Kashmir- human rights/advocacy/research/ policies etc. The overall approach of each conversation is to lay a trail for prospective Kashmiri students who might be interested in pursuing the discipline.