Histories of contagion reveal penetrating schisms in societies. Xenophobia, fear, and violence undergird such histories. Entwined with histories of colonialism, fears of contagion engender racism, casteism, objectification, sexism, misogyny, and religious and ethnic persecution. Crisis becomes “war” and challenges are anthropomorphized as enemies that are defined along familiar narratives of vicious prejudice. For instance, just before the nationwide lockdown, Tablighi Jamaat’s congregation in Delhi inspired bellicose narratives about COVID-19 being a “Muslim conspiracy” and neologisms coined to deal with the threat of “Covid Jihad.” These included attacks and economic boycotts against Muslims across India (Mayaram). Colonial legacies of communalism characterize the postcolonial condition in India and frame its politics, policy, and instincts.
India’s “Muslim other” gets embodied in Kashmir. As a petri dish for perennial crisis, innovative politico-military experiments by the state, and multiple insurrections by the people, Kashmir spatiotemporally engenders a protracted pandemic. Since death, violence, torture,...
