Orientalist Constructions of Pashtuns: On the Post-Colonial History and Repercussions

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the Orientalist constructions of Pashtuns and Pashtun society in the colonial and post-colonial body of knowledge of the late 18th, 19th century and some anthropological texts of the 20th century. The thesis further explores the relationship and transformation of colonial discourses into the post-colonial and neo-colonial frameworks and the discursive formation of knowledge in post-colonial context. The recurring colonial images and transformation of colonial discourses and post-colonial effects on Pashtun identity and society are analyzed in this thesis. This research study probes the post-colonial images and representation in Pakistani mainstream discourses, media and texts. The study draws on archival, anthropological data and ethnographic field data to supplement the textual analysis and challenge the Orientalist representation of Pashtuns. The ethnographic field data were collected through in-depth interviews from various Pashtun intellectuals, poets, writers and authors in Peshawar and Charsadda from different institutions. Twenty four in-depth interviews were conducted with leading Pashtun scholars to know the emic perspective on the Orientalist constructions and description of Pashtuns. This study employs post-modern and postcolonial theoretical standpoints and anthropological approaches including subaltern studies. However, this thesis demonstrates that: 1) there are colonial biasness and Eurocentric constructions of Pashtuns in the colonial accounts and texts. 2) The colonial biased representations of Pashtuns are transformed into the post-colonial discourses. Pashtuns and Pashtun society are still uncritically analyzed through colonial lenses and spectacles. 3) In the contemporary and modern discourses and Media Pashtuns are painted with the same colonial brush, dehumanized and objectified in a deplorable way. 4) The colonial inspired Orientalist and Post-colonial and neo-colonial approaches have affected the Pashtun identity, well-being and integrity as a Nation. The thesis concludes that Eurocentric and Orientalist methodological approaches including anthropologists have failed to address the colonial roots of Pashtun representations and constructions rather they have deliberately built their analysis on the existing colonial body of knowledge. Therefore, this study is an attempt to deconstruct the existing body of literature in order to present a novel perspective on the frontier Pashtuns and to problematize the static and myopic description and worldview on Pashtuns and Pashtun society.