ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I will not lie; bringing this book to life has been a riot. Over the years, in trying to lift the manuscript to publication, I have received wild amounts of pushback. This only strengthened my resolve to tell these stories. I was lucky to have circulated my manuscript to Penn Press (via an unsolicited email), only to receive breathtaking support from the acquiring editor Jenny Tan and series editor Alma Gottlieb. The press’ faculty editorial board, too, was welcoming. I couldn’t have asked for more dedicated peer reviewers. Thank you for being an ally.

I am indebted to my host communities in Neelum and Siran valleys for tolerating my undoubtedly odd presence in their kitchens and courtyards. This book is the fruit of your generosity. In particular, I am thankful to Baba for giving me shelter, Dur-e-man for your kindness, Abrar for your friendship, and Headmaster sahib for the walking stick. You all made the pahars possible.

This monograph would not have materialized without the wisdom, patience, and dedication of the following: Nusrat Jamal, Shahzad Aslam, Ambreen Khan, Mubashir Nawaz Khan, Muhammad Shoaib, Fawad Aslam, and Saeed Khan. I am also indebted to Aurangzeb and Abdul Shakoor for their assistance in navigating the pahars. Additionally, I was supported by two community-based organizations; Haashar Association and Sukhi Development Foundation. Among other things, they offered me guidance, logistical support, and protection.

The manuscript found several institutional homes in my quest to find an intellectual landing since leaving graduate school at the University of British Columbia. This included generous writing time at the University of Toronto and a very intense and tumultuous year at Brunel University London, where the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-immigration border regimes coalesced as one, leading to a much gentler interim landing in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria (also brought on by a chance email). Further change and upheaval led me to the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at the University of Manchester, where I remain in excellent company.

At the University of British Columbia, I was fortunate to meet a dedicated group of scholars, mentors, and friends. Shauna Butterwick, Erin Baines, and Pilar Riaño-Alcalá, I am forever grateful for your mentorship. Sara Shneiderman and Leonora Angeles, thank you for helping me navigate the institution and offering friendly advice. It is here where I met a new generation of cutting-edge scholars such as Gabriella Maestrini, Jeannie Kerr, Vicheth Sen, Waged Jafer, Ketty Anyeko, Neila Miled, Autumn Knowlton, Elaine Hsiao, Marisa Muñoz, Juliane Okot Bitek, Chaya Ocampo Go, Yao Xiao, Dilnoor Panjwani, Sonia Medel, Emily Amburgey, and countless others. I can’t wait to see what you all do next.

This is also where I met FKM. Erin, Julie, and Chrissie—I miss you the most.

At the University of Toronto, I received generous mentorship from Amira Mittermaier. We organized a small workshop at the Institute of Islamic Studies to ready the manuscript. This low-key gathering exceeded all expectations. It was an honor to have the work read and debated by Naisargi Dave and Dina Georgis, along with Khalidah Ali, Sadaf Ahmed, and Sanna Wani.

I miss my colleagues in the Global Challenges Program at Brunel University London. Mary Richards, Olwenn Martin, Mandekh Hussein, Nibedita Mukherjee, and Fang Wang—I am sorry we are no longer together. I still think about the exceptional students in the program. They give me so much hope.

I am thankful to Veena Das for engaging with an earlier version of the manuscript when it was still in dissertation form, along with Renisa Mawani and Vanessa Andreotti. Farhana Ibrahim offered insights on scene one, Haley Duschinski and Mona Bhan helped sharpen “Dissident Knowledges,” and Ananya Jahanara Kabir read the book’s proposal closely. Pooja Parmar provided gentle encouragement.

A range of intellectual voices has shaped my thinking. This includes the awe-inspiring works of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Christina Sharpe, Gina Athena Ulysse, Audre Lorde, M. Jacqui Alexander, Yarimar Bonilla, Katherine McKittrick, Audra Simpson, Deborah A. Thomas, Lisa Stevenson, Zoe Todd, Tina Campt, Sylvia Wynter, Jasbir Puar, Eve Tuck, Richa Nagar, Sarah Hunt, Lauren Berlant, Sam McKegney, Kristen Ghodsee, Saidiya Hartman, Toni Morrison, Sara Ahmed, Dian Million, Ronak Kapadia, Stefano Harney, Elizabeth Chin, Fred Moten, Lena Palacios, Zoë Wool, Savannah Shange, Keguro Macharia—and a wave of future-forward Black, Indigenous, Brown, Queer, and Independent scholars who hold us accountable.

Kashmir scholars, I am thankful for the work you are doing, which has allowed me to do mine: Ather Zia, Mona Bhan, Nosheen Ali, Haley Duschinski, Huma Dar, Idrisa Pandit, Hafsa Kanjwal, Mohamad Junaid, Ananya Jahanara Kabir, Kamala Visweswaran, Pascale Schild, Martin Sökefeld, Cabeiri deBergh Robinson, Inshah Malik, Goldie Osuri, Dean Accardi, Rakhshan Rizwan, Uzma Falak, Zunaira Komal, Ruhail Andrabi, Khushdeep Kaur Malhotra, to name a few.

The works of disaster scholars such as Roberto Barrios, A. J. Faas, Mark Schuller, Mimi Sheller, Edward Simpson, and Greg Beckett have set such high standards. Sonali Deraniyagala’s memoir Wave continues to be a quiet inspiration.

I am grateful to the editors and indexers at Ideas on Fire for helping me get the manuscript in shape, Maahin Ahmed for her careful work with Urdu transliterations and close review of the text, and Sara-Maya Kaba for sorting out the bibliography. Special thanks to the staff of Penn Press for seeing the book through publication, particularly undercompensated and uncompensated publishing workers. At the press, Noreen O’Connor-Abel helped bring precision to the book’s form to support my ambition of disrupting linear and hierarchical thinking.

A series of fellowships and grants have sustained the writing of the book. This includes generous funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the International Development Research Center (IDRC), the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, and the University of Manchester.

While finishing the book, I was lucky to meet Junyoung Verónica Kim, Haroon Bashir, and Naveen Minai. I can’t wait to think alongside you as we navigate the Byzantine rules of the Institution/Empire. I am also indebted to my chosen family in Vancouver, especially Nancy, Gabriella, Sue, and Emilia, for making the moody Pacific Northwest feel so much more like home.

I couldn’t have done this work without you:

Ammi and Papa for teaching me how to receive deeply. Ishma, Ahmed, Mohammed, Huzaifa, Ismail, Fatima, Jannat, Hiba, and Dua for the stuff of family.

Misstree and Himtu and their various incarnations as hummingbirds, bees, and ladybugs.

Jhumpa, the oddity.

And John, you know, for everything.

An earlier version of the chapter “The Mountains Echo” appeared as “Kashmir as Movement and Multitude.” Journal of Narrative Politics 4, no. 2 (2018): 88–118, where it received special attention from Naeem Inayatullah and Elizabeth Dauphinee. A previous version of the chapter “Opacity” appeared as “Who Is Chandni Bibi?: Survival as Embodiment in Disaster Disrupted Northern Pakistan.” WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 44, nos. 1/2 (2016): 95–110, published by the Feminist Press at the City University of New York.