AZKA CHAUDHRY2025-11-222025-11-222024https://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/12052This research examines the effects of psychocultural trauma in contemporary Kashmiri fiction. By using the theoretical framework of Jeffrey C. Alexander, Neil J. Smelser, Cathy Caruth and Dominick LaCapra on individual and collective trauma, this research paper examines how psychocultural trauma is portrayed in Shahnaz Bashir’s The Half Mother. In the conflict zone of Jammu and Kashmir, how the Indian army brutally violent on the innocent Kashmiri people. It processes and analyzes the heart-wrenching experiences of Haleema, and it vividly captures the pain and loss of her father and son. This research shows the relentless violence in her homeland, fear, hopelessness and fight for freedom that defines the daily life of Kashmiri people. By exploring these traumatic experiences, this study aims to re-envision the traumascapes of Kashmir through a literary lens. This research unfolds the ways Bashir’s work not only represents the pain and suffering of a single person but also serves as a medium and voice of all the Kashmiri people and further understands and articulates the collective trauma and pain in the region.enThesis