The Zanaan Wanaan Podcast

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.