Kashmiri Memoryscape: Construction of Cultural Memory in Mirza Waheed's The Book of Gold Leaves (2014) and Malik Sajjad's Munnu (2015)

The focus of this study lies in foregrounding the conflict zone of Kashmir as a subject of memory studies. The research highlights the impact of the catastrophic decade of 90s,on the life of Kashmiris as narrated in Mirza Waheed’s The Book of Gold Leaves (2014) and Malik Sajjad’s graphic novel Munnu (2015). Informed by Homi K. Bhabha’s ideas this research explores the significance of narration as a means of reflecting the transitional cultural reality of a nation. In addition to that it reflects the significance of narratives as an agent of transmission of culture. The study thus aims to portray centrality of the Kashmiris as a memory community. It intends to record the shift in representation of objects as a result of emergence of new social movements to signify transformation in culture. It thus employs Homi K. Bhabha’s idea that the “totalization of national culture” is a “problematic closure” and must be replaced by the possibility of transition and multiplicity through which cultural “symbols” may be interpreted. In addition to that, this research benefits from Jan Assmann’s assertion of the significance of memory making for the construction of cultural identity.