Muslim Women, Agency and Resistance Politics

Book excerpt: This book investigates agency in the historical resistance movement in Kashmir by initiating a fresh conversation about Muslim Kashmiri women. It exhibits Muslim women not merely as accidental victims but conscientious agents who choose to operate within the struggles of self-determination. The experience of victimization stimulates women to take control of their lives and press for change. Despite experiencing isolating political conditions, Kashmiri women do not internalize their supposed inferiority. The author shows that women’s struggles against patriarchy are at the heart of a very complex historical resistance to the Indian rule.