October 1, 2019 - Page 0 of 2

Factory or Corporation: What “Severance” Gets Wrong — An Analysis by Muzaffar Karim

Mar 10, 2023

Muzaffar Karim presents an analysis of “Severance” (2022, Apple+), the critically-acclaimed award-winning TV series directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle, with Adam Scott in the lead. Karim’s analytical piece fills the void that is often left by mainstream reviews that are mainly concerned with plot, characterization, theme, ratings and “watchability” and restricted by wordcount. In this piece, Karim meditates on the vocabulary, ideas, thematic undertones, imagery and subtexts found in the show that ultimately facilitate a theoretical and critical commentary on bigger and more pressing questions in dialogue with the work of multiple philosophers and thinkers.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions presented in this piece are the author’s own. This piece contains some spoilers.

The Fear of Being Caged and Cut off from the Rest of the World — by Sheikh Saqib

Having graduated recently from the Summer Institute at the Iowa International Writers Workshop, young Sheikh Saqib summarizes his experience of the ongoing lock-down and media blockade imposed on Kashmir, right upon his return from the USA. As a student barely past his teens, Saqib describes the atmosphere observed and felt by the people of his native Srinagar, days before the Indian government’s announcement abrogating Articles 370 and 35A on August 5th and the weeks that have followed since. Accounts such as his are essential to understanding the situation in Kashmir from a Kashmiri perspective, and are welcomed at Inverse Journal, from Kashmiris of all walks of life, to narrate and describe what they have felt and observed under the latest siege that has put the Valley under complete lock-down and in an unprecedented halt. This time, the account comes from a young student who, just a few weeks ago, was learning how to write more effectively under the guidance and mentorship of faculty at University of Iowa’s prestigious MFA program to then landing back in Kashmir to face the present and enforced circumstances along with the rest of the Kashmiri population.

Hand over your agency, Zooni — by Tabish Rafiq Mir

Tabish Rafiq Mir provides a prompt critical response and interpretation to the recent Raw Mango fashion campaign that undermined the current situation in Kashmir while attempting to capitalizing on Kashmiri culture, tradition and history. The piece clearly exposes the orientalist and exoticizing gaze that repeatedly seeks to define Kashmir and Kashmris in unequal relation to India and its public, this time with Kashmiri culture becoming yet again a subject of “high end” consumerism served to a willfully oblivious Indian consumer base. Tabish Rafiq Mir’s article delves into the matter in greater detail and in unapologetic terms to expose a larger malaise that goes unquestioned as well as unnoticed. Tabish’s piece elucidates the insensitive and inconsiderate manner in which Kashmiri subjects are presented and represented beyond Kashmir, usually by non-Kashmiri others. The company has since withdrawn and recalled the release.

Ahmer Drops Timely Video for ‘Kasheer’ from His Debut Album ‘Little Kid, Big Dreams’ — Azadi Records — Sez on the Beat

There is far too much that can be written about, discussed and critiqued in Ahmer’s first album, but with the current enforced conditions that Kashmiris are having to deal with, this new video for his single, “Kasheer”, arrives in a timely manner. Following the tradition of resistance, protest and dissent that has characterized hip hop as a worldwide and global genre, Ahmer again follows the tenets of those who have preceded him to visually present the verses in Kashmiri that shape one of the most memorable Kashmiri hip hop song of our times. This song, along with the album, merits a much lengthier critical visitation, but since it premiered quite recently, we will leave the critiques, interpretations and meaning-making for later, and have the video and the groundbreaking track speak for itself. Here is “Kasheer” (which means Kashmir in the Kashmiri language) by Ahmer, from the house of Azadi Records in association with producer Sez on the Beat.

POETÈ MAUDIT — A Short Story by Muzaffar Karim

In this short story that commences at “the holy steps” of the Makhdoom Sahib shrine in Srinagar, a disgruntled character surprises the author of what he considers to be an unfinished tale.

Disclaimer: any resemblance to reality is purely fictional in this short story. For more, readers are advised to check the Editorial Disclaimer.

Gaash — A Call to Remembrance

On August 18th of 1990, Parveena Ahangar’s 17-year-old son Javaid Ahmed was taken by a specialized counter-insurgency group (the National Security Guards of the Indian Army) during a night raid at her neighborhood in Batamaloo, Srinagar. Since then, her quest to find her son and her demand for justice persist. At this 32nd year since Javaid’s enforced disappearance, this poem makes a call to remembrance for those who stand in solidarity with his mother Parveena and with the many Kashmiri families she represents as Founder of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, Kashmir.

Merleau-Ponty’s Theory of Embodiment and its ‘Return to the Body’ — A Commentary by Mirum Quazi

Mirum Quazi applies Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s “Theory of Embodiment” and its articulation of “Return to the Body” to the act of artmaking. In the process, the writer demonstrates how Merleau-Ponty’s ideas about the “embodied self” can be understood and appreciated by taking artmaking as a prime example to explain such core ideas from Merleau-Ponty’s great philosophical contributions to phenomenology.

Exhibition Review: “I am looking for you like a drone, my love” by Aziz Hazara + Unknown Carpet Makers

Amjad Majid presents a review of “I am looking for you like a drone, my love”, an exhibition showcasing work by Aziz Hazara and unknown carpet makers. Curated by Dr. David Sequeira, the exhibition is on display at the Fiona & Sidney Myer Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne from April 14 to May 21, 2022. Inverse Journal has included an independently curated visual bibliography to familiarize readers and viewers with the Afghan artist’s extensive art practice.

Sufism in Cinema: The Case of Bab’Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul — by Ridade Öztürk

This article presents a discussion of key aspects of knowledge in Sufism through an analysis of the film Bab’Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul (Nacer Khemir, 2005). The dominant Western perspective argues for the necessity of a rational, objective form of knowledge which is based on logical argument and precepts. This perspective, however, fails to recognize the alternative form of experiential knowledge which lies at the heart of the Sufi tradition. In this respect, Bab’Aziz is an important film because its content and its narrative technique is an expression of certain knowledge, knowledge without doubt, and kashf, unveiling or discovery. This article compares knowledge in Sufism (Tasawwuf) to the concept of knowledge in the Western tradition, and argues for a reconsideration of the meaning of philosophy as understood by the Ancient Greeks. Originally published in Volume 23, Issue 1 of Film-Philosophy journal and republished here via CC-SA-4.0.

When the Light Dawned by Somnath Zutshi — A Book Excerpt from The Greatest Kashmiri Short Stories Ever Told (trans. Neerja Mattoo, Aleph, 2022)

We are proud to present Somnath Zutshi’s short story “When the Light Dawned” excerpted from The Greatest Kashmiri Short Stories Ever Told (Aleph, 2022) selected and translated by Neerja Mattoo. Inverse Journal has independently curated a visual bibliography of links relevant to the book and its author. Special thanks to Majid Maqbool for sourcing this excerpt.

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