Children of Kashmir and the Meaning of Family in Armed Conflict

Abstract

Armed conflict intermixed with terrorism poses a serious threat to children’s health and well-being around the world. It is observed that in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, children take up stones and rocks to join the controversial freedom movement. This chapter explores the lived experiences of young children and how they construct meaning of everyday life in an armed conflict. The construction of meaning is a reciprocal process between the family and the child, where children are active constructors of meaning and hence ‘active sense makers.’ Families alleviate traumatic memories of armed conflict through narrative and commemorative acts, which shape the thoughts of children. It makes a case for the contextual influences in children’s moral learning with a particular focus on the specific societal challenges associated with involvement in combat.

Citation

Shah, T.M. (2020), "Children of Kashmir and the Meaning of Family in Armed Conflict", Frankel, S., McNamee, S. and Bass, L.E. (Ed.) Bringing Children Back into the Family: Relationality, Connectedness and Home (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 27), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 213-216. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120200000027015