Manan Ahmed
Pakistan Redux
In a number of narratives and along different dimensions, Pakistan is reduced to more ‘suitable’ scales. What remains of course, is what one expects to rather than what there is to see. There are some sources in the anglophone interwebs, which you should follow if you want to stay updated on these Pakistan Redux attempts and how they can be unravelled and countered. Rather recent examples worth while a read are listed here – the ultimate sources on where Pakistan is reduced to convenient monolithic simplifications are @salmaan_H, @myramacdonald and @sepoy.
‘Am Hindukusch’ – europäische Narrative nach amerikanischer Vorstellung
Als der deutsche Verteidigungsminister Peter Struck im Dezember 2002 verkündete, “Die Sicherheit Deutschlands wird auch am Hindukusch verteidigt”, zementierte er eine Narrative für die deutschsprachige Medienlandschaft – Afghanistan ist ‘der Hindukusch’. Während mit Fortdauer des Krieges auch Pakistan immer mehr in den Fokus der Aufmerksamkeit rückte, wurde nicht etwa die alpinistische Narrative um ‘am Indus’ oder gar ‘am Arabischen Meer’ erweitert, nein, Pakistan ist nun ganz einfach auch ‘am Hindukusch’. Manan Ahmed’s erstes Buch, ‘Where the Wild Frontiers are’ gibt Einblick in die Bildung solch einseitiger Narrativen.
Mortenson – remote narratives
For me this is most aptly portrayed by the extensive use of remote in the context of referring to anything virtually in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is just outside Kabul or Islamabad.
Kaplan’s Imperial Grunts
Shortly before I left back to Europe I found Kaplan’s Balkan Ghosts in a friends bookshelf in Lahore, happy to get something into my hands that would somehow prepare me for where I was heading, a reminder of the history of the continent I was going to live in again. Once there, wishing to look back I read his Soldiers of God.
reason vs. polemics – how Pakistani intellectuals face the looming US approach on their country
Qalandar Bux Memon has recently published an article commenting on Hillary Clinton’s visit and her statements in Pakistan. Read it here at the Samosa, but it was also published in DAWN and referred to by Yasir here. I recieved emails from Pakistani Leftist Political Activists who praised the article and I guess it was cheered [...]
on Minarets
1) The first and one of only 4 minarets in Switzerland belongs to the Mahmud Masjid in Balgrist, up towards Forch. Now here in Switzerland, people are scared of the “signs of muslim power” -in Pakistan, this Masjid wouldn’t even be considered Islamic. It is run by the Ahmaddiya, which by law, is considered non-muslim [...]
Twitter
Facebook
RSS
Recent Comments: