Concerns and Challenges for Social Sciences in Kashmir

Abstract

Generally the contours of social existence are, by and large, similar as human societies across communities, regions and nations have broadly similar issues and problems to deal with. Therefore, no place and country can be understood in isolation from the larger context either at the regional or at the global level. There are a large number of common challenges that humanity is confronted with. However, in spite of the similarities, each society is also unique in a number of respects. There is a contextual variation defined by the objective placement of different societies that makes each one of these distinct. So, for any meaningful study of the social phenomenon both facets need to be understood and covered appropriately. In this context, this write-up highlights some of the challenges and concerns that Kashmir as a society has to deal with. These challenges, in spite of broad parallels elsewhere, have many elements that make these unique for the place. An attempt has been made not only to highlight these concerns and challenges along with identifying the elements that are unique, but also offer insights into how best these could be dealt with.