Excavation of Kashmiri's Historico- Cultural Trauma in Peer's Curfewed Night

Abstract

Basharat Peer’s non-fictional text Curfewed Night deals with the historico- cultural trauma and its negative impacts upon Kashmiri people. The text Curfewed Night depicts the victimization of Kashmiri people that occurs with the history of cultural clash and cultural encroachment in Kashmir, which leave indelible scars upon them. In Curfewed Night Peer shows the tendency of tirelessly recounting own experience to everyone by those who witnessed critical condition but those true witness could not bear and recount easily to get solace from trauma due to haunt of memory. Peer narrativizes trauma and tries to share effects of cultural trauma with reader through which he tries to keep critical distance with trauma or tries to be in ‘working through’ approach of trauma. Peer portrays the miserable situation of Kashmiri people and their inarticulate grief from which, they try to get rid of through testimony and attempt to overcome by calling for collective identity formation. Kashmiri people suffer from various trauma related problem like hallucinations, chronic stress, haunts of memory that was caused by the historico-cultural trauma, artistically present in the text. Peer shows the lack of harmony among Kashmiri people. Therefore, they were destined to suffer and he attempts to call for harmony and unity for peace and bright future.