Tourism and settler colonialism: Unraveling neoliberal façades and spatial dispossession

This paper examines the infrastructural assemblage of tourism in Indian-occupied Kashmir post-2019 focusing on the role of religious pilgrims and tourists in the settler-colonial dispossession of Kashmiris. Drawing from Critical Kashmir Studies (CKS), Critical Tourism Studies (CTS), and ethnographic fieldwork, the paper explores how tourism facilitates the reordering of spaces and restricts local mobility, contributing to the erasure of indigenous histories and identities. Through interviews with Indian tourists and Kashmiri locals, the research uncovers the subtle yet powerful ways through which tourism, in conjunction with military securitization, legitimizes the Indian state’s control over Kashmir. The paper highlights how religious pilgrims, especially during the Amarnath Yatra, are integral to the expansion of settler logics through land grabs and infrastructural development. This study offers a critical analysis of tourism’s role in colonial occupation, contributing to broader discussions on tourism, state power, and indigeneity.