Colonial Difference and Post-colonial Difference

This is actually a continuation of the last post that i made.... i was perhaps a bit too simplistic in my elaboration of Chatterjee's argument regarding 'colonial difference'...In laymen language, the premise of his inquiry was to observe whether colonialism is just a chapter within the larger spread of modernity...or is it a specific-modern form of power that is fundamentally different from the one that was witnessed in the formation and subsequent maturity of the Westphalian state in Europe. In a very Foucaldian laced articulation, Chatterjee's saying that the rationality of power for the colonial state (i.e. the logical framework that dictates the structure of the colonial state as well as its policy-makers/functionaries) is based upon the differentiation of race. Had the Europeans not utilized this differentiation of race as a dictating principle to obtain the form of state they needed, the process of normalization and political modernization should have continued un-mutilated, which was not the case in reality. Hence the racial dichotomy provides the premise for this particular form of colonialism and the non-representative forms of government at the center of the colonial state. So in short, the impact of colonialism and the colonial state cannot be understated primarily because of this new rationality of power that it created...something that is and was not present in the modern liberal state that we postcolonial states are now trying to emulate. Now if you actually managed to stay awake through the seemingly endless rant above, you've finally gotten to the point where it gets interesting. If the colonial state has its own rationality of power ...then...the post-colonial state in Pakistan...,which has been theoretically proven to be a continuation of the colonial state, might operate on the same rationality of power (i.e. that which is different from the weberian state). This is some serious shit right here. Let me try to further simplify this

Rationality of Power for Weberian State------This form of state power makes power humane, productive and effective

Rationality of Power for Colonial State-------This form of power can be made effective by structuring it around racial difference

Rationality of Power for Pakistan (A mixture of the two states but leaning towards the colonial state)--------??????


The question marks denote the need for further inquiry....Naturally there has been nothing written on the rationality of power in the Pakistani state...i have emailed my ustaad to obtain an answer for this fix...for my non-existent readers...i hope to have an answer to this conundrum sometime next week...feel free to post invisible comments to this piece of text which all of you imaginary people are reading with great interest

Little has changed

'Callaghan recognised the “many and grave difficulties” Zia faced “with which, if I may say so, you have the sympathy and good wishes of many of your friends in this country as well as elsewhere in the world.”,'



Partha Chatterjee happens to be a very dense writer but once you get beyond the heavily-worded prose that normally surrounds his arguments, you often end up thinking 'oh that makes perfect sense...' but then again thats pretty much his job...anyway i've been reading his work on colonial and post-colonial history writing and theres a particularly interesting piece in 'The Nation and its Fragments' in which he talks about the colonial difference. In a nutshell his argument was that colonialism was possible to perpetuate in south asia because it was positioned within the larger dichotomy of the native vs the european. This race differentiation allowed the Europeans to export distorted liberalism within the subcontinent, and at the same time satisfied their own conscience through the claim that this fundamental difference cannot possibly allow for the complete imposition of a representative state structure in India. Hence we were not seen fit for democracy primarily because we were of a different color. Nobody has to agree with Chatterjee's argument in fact i myself dont buy it to a large extent. But what was interesting and immensely relevant about the recent disclosure of letters exchanged between General Mard-i-Momin and James Callaghan, over the impending execution of Bhutto, was that the British (even in 1979) operated with pretty much the same mindset about democracy in this part of the world. Their geo-political and strategic interests continued to supersede and suppress the development of a much more holistic liberal framework for government. Nationalist Historians, especially in Pakistan, would do well to recognize this fact...they still believe that the world and Islam were born in 1947...

Aamer!

Yaaarrr what a gooodd bowler (touch wood)....that delivery to haddin was reminiscent of this other left-armer we once had...Allah isko apnay hifzo emaan mein rakhay

In other news...Abdur Rauf...im assuming he's the winner of some competition that the PCB/Pepsi/Touch Condoms arranged...quraandaazi kay baad jeetnay waalay ko Boxing Day test mein starting position...Imran Farhat was related to the organizer and Misbah....well i dont know how he got there...but i'll be a much happier man when he leaves...cameeonnn Younis Khannn

Violence and Fun

'Unrest in parts of Karachi, dozens of vehicles torched'

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=94684

This is the link for a report capturing the reaction to the suicide bombing that took place during the Ashura procession on MA Jinnah Road. Around 25 people were killed with many more injured. The blast was followed by the usual condemnatory statements from our political figurines and the now habitual 'investigations have been initiated' rants of which truth be told the successfully investigated column has remained pretty much empty and the unsolved bombings column keeps on growing each week. Personally, my curiosity was triggered by this report highlighting a violent and outrageous response to the senseless bombing, something thats been a point of interest for me ever since BB's death, when violence reached climatic proportions in the country (and the fender of my car was damaged by a young jiyala near gulberg as i was returning home with some chinese takeaway). Expression of grief is a standard human emotion but violent expression is perhaps a slightly more complex phenomenon which, since i have no knowledge of psychology whatsoever i'll have to use a sociological/political framework to explain. Especially for the bouts which follow a particular incident such as the ones that've been mentioned above. I haven't actually formulated a clear enough opinion on the matter myself, my basic understanding was formed after reading some of Oskar Verkaaik's work on the MQM in Sindh who's causality, whilst being slightly questionable, is quite thought provoking. For him expression of violence is both a fear inducing and a cohesive force for a particular associational/group identity. the fear inducing facet is quite straight-forward...you torch someones car and they'll probably stay out of your way...or they'll pay up or they'll do whatever you want them to do....violence is symbolic and functional at the same time...representative of power and acting as the means of enhancing power as well. Whats more interesting, is his view of violence acting as a cohesive force within a particular group identity. An exercise of violence carried out by individuals creates a feeling of some form of shared perception and identity amongst them...it might even attract some more followers who're fascinated by such crude and overt exercises of coercion. Beyond that disparate entities only connected by some possible sense of marginalization and alienation will find recourse in violence not only to satiate any feelings of helplessness but also to propagate a sense of group togetherness...that was pretty much my take on what happened in the aftermath of BB's assassination as people acted not only within the identity of PPP members but also as personally affected individuals working alongside other personally affected individuals...there are about as many holes in this theory as the playboy costume that Carmen Electra wore in 1996 but i'd like to think that this is a premise on which further inquiry can be initiated (and not the sort that Rehman Malik throws around every now and then). Without stretching it too far, i wonder if this can be used to understand the violence that accompanied the Danish Cartoon protests in Lahore. My favorite bakery was damaged in that particular episode. I miss the lemon tarts.

Call to Action

I've been brainstorming for a Politics of South Asia research paper over the last few days trying to come up with a decent argument while fighting the worldly distractions of watching liverpool trying to win and Pakistan's sad attempts at putting up a fight in Melbourne. The double trauma of supporting two of the most underachieving teams in world sport today doesnt bode particularly well for my paper-writing. Anyway, the topic i've basically picked is to discuss the nature and role of the colonial state in India with reference to nationalism, state formation and social identities. For someone who's been intellectually brought up by a post-colonial state theorist (Hazrat Maulana Syed Mohammad Dr Aasim Sajjad Akhtar), i find it pretty straightforward and all i need to do now is to get my research in one place. Which is exactly what i was doing when i suddenly felt like blogging about this particular thing that bothers me every now and then especially when i study Indian politics and history. You're basically spoilt for choice when you want to discuss India, especially in relation to colonialism. You have the usual Kohli, Yadav, Varshney, Chatterjee, Jalal, Bose etc etc...and then you have more nuanced and post-modern authors such as Chakrabarty, Sarkar, Kaviraj who tend to make it a lot more complex (something that i really cant stand)...what im basically trying to say is that theres a lot out there and it makes writing on India extremely easy for someone who just wants to finish 4500 words and a lot more difficult for someone who wants to turn it into a reflective exercise of sorts....BUT thats not the point i want to make...the thing that troubles me the most during such and such times is when i suddenly remember the paucity of work on Pakistan and its experiences with the colonial state....for a hardcore peasant minded structuralist, i pretty much believe that A LOT of this country can be explained by the colonial experience coupled with the early years of partition. Jalal made the argument about the role of the military being enhanced by the experiences of the infantile state during the early years of partition...Alavi talked about the inheritance of the steel-cage from the colonial masters...and then it all stops...there is no work theorizing the state of Pakistan after Alavi and Jalal...Nobody talks about the subtle and not-so-subtle shifts that have taken place in the social fabric of the country...the rise of the urban Islamists, the development of the middle classes, the rural to urban migrations and patronage politics...its all under-studied, under-researched and under-estimated. Its really sad, even though we're 5 times smaller than India, our intellectual contributions towards the study of our own history must be at least 15 times less than what they have...treat this as a call to action for all those currently involved in post-grad education in any discipline from the social sciences...its time we start studying our own country and coming up with explanations for the stuff thats going on...just for the very selfish purpose of not having to rely on Hamid Mir for an insight into the problems that our country faces on a day to day basis.

Paris>London

And so the wide-eyed boy from Lahore made his way to the city of Lights. A far cry for someone who had rarely ventured beyond the confines of his suburban bubble back home; with this being my second venture into continental Europe in less than two months. The first was an extremely nonacademic trip to Sweden which just confirmed the widely held belief that Swedish women (and men) have been pushed into that particularly cold corner of the world because they're just too beautiful for the rest of us. Its an irony of sorts that they remain confined in that place wallowing amongst their own beauty and rarely coming across any of the ugly tropical kind. Probably keeps their egos in check...khair i digress...this trip to Paris was a lot more interesting, and beyond the superficial sight-seeing (which was amazing), i managed to reflect upon the character of the city itself. I fell in love with Paris the minute i stepped into the metro station, round about an hour after landing. The dirty floor, the broken glass and the homeless man with the liquor bottle seemed like a far cry from the sterile condition of my current city of residence...in London the monotony of the city is rarely interrupted and one gets the feeling that everything has been swept under a very large carpet...and a very fat bloke is sitting on it...suffocating the people into compliance and passive submission..which is duly provided...Paris is different...the proverbial carpet is there..yet the dude on top is thin and struggles to keep it over everyone...every now and then someone gets away from underneath and manages to defy the push...often with the use of some spray paint and creative ingenuity...Graffiti defines the resistance in Paris...it is everywhere and speaks volumes of the disobedient sub-culture that gives life to a city otherwise known for the decadent architecture of the Bourbon Kings..(and their obsession with a military past that has yielded little success). Resistance has always been embedded in the culture of France, with some estimates showing that there are an average of 40 protests everyday across the country..contentious politics in advanced western countries has often been seen as the product of a public space granted by the state and negotiated by society...i don't think its that black and white here in Paris...i think the resistance lives despite the state...it goes beyond the space allocated by high culture/capitalism, and remains a product of its cosmopolitan nature, material inequality and a reflective and intellectual past...as opposed to the passive Brit, who's fed on east-enders and mashed potatoes, you have the motivated and disobedient Frenchman...regardless of whether he's white, arab or an african. This is probably a gross generalization on my part but its just what my reading of French history made me think and what my eyes saw in two days...There's a beautiful movie called 'La Haine', that chronicles the lives of three french boys in the ghettos of Paris...i highly recommend it and i think by watching it you'll get a sense of the argument that im making. The resistance itself is futile...but its very existence is inspirational for those who study the subject with a little more than just academic interest. London will always have its fans..of whom my friends are a significant number...the city might grow on me as well with time...but as of this moment i have seen both parts of Dickens stage and Paris made me more aware and more alive in two days than London has in two months...

Waseem Sahab's brilliance

My former instructor at LUMS, Dr Waseem, recently wrote an op-ed piece for Dawn which has captivated my imagination to the degree that ive been reading it 4 times a day for the last three days...the potency of writing is simply remarkable and his word arrangements make them seem almost poetic and lyrical. I'm being too emotional about it but for me this article made so much cognitive sense that i fell in love with it right after the first read...he has touched upon a subject that is of great interest to me: the sociology and politics of our middle class...he posits them in relation to the political class and i just want to leave the readers with a quotable quote from the piece itself:

'While the middle class vows to serve the ‘national interest’ conceived in an idealised form, the political class pledges to serve ‘the public interest’ understood in terms of the distribution of resources on the ground'

I'll let you read the article and make your own judgments about it...do give me feedback on it though...i want to see if everybody else understands the logic of it or not

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/19-a-tale-of-two-classes-hh-03

NRO and the such

Its the right decision...no question about it...it will help the country get rid of some excess baggage that has been cramping up the cabinet and other forms of public space. But this also leaves the parliament in a very precarious situation. The Opposition can pounce on the Peoples Party government thats already on life-support as it is and can probably make a strong case for mid-term elections. Imran Khan has already come forward with this demand (but who listens to him anyway), and thats exactly what should not happen. Iv never been a fan of PPP but hey, if there is something they can claim to, its that they represent the vaguest form of Pakistan as a nation. They get votes across provinces, gender, religion and other such divides and right now they could do with a face-lift. A very public face-lift that could see them get rid of Rehman Malik, Haqqani and (dare i say) even Zardari. Critics will continue to point out that they're record in public office is weak at best and they havent managed to get anything concrete done. But i'd say that we can take a look at the first year in office for any democratic government in this country and you'll find that they have equally poor (if not worse) records. I personally think that Gillani and Co. are trying to take a few steps in the right direction but the burden of performing far too much in too little time is making it all the more difficult. The NFC award, the Balochistan Package and the newly announced Austerity package are all positive indications of the good that this government is capable of. Fine, it will never have a spotless record as far as public fund management is concerned, there will be accusations of corruption and nepotism but like iv mentioned in a previous post, that is simply the case with every government in this country (military or otherwise). Hell, even the AWLSCD (Advanced Western Liberal Secular Capitalist Democracies) are guilty of dipping their fingers into the treasury every now and then (case in point the expenses scandal in Westminster)...Basically what i want people to think about when they're pointing fingers and rubbing their hands in glee at the impending fall of the government, is that this is the start of a process...a process thats been derailed far too many times by the 'face-tweeting' classes in their quest for national good...(Please read M Waseem's article about the middle class vs the political class in Dawn on 15/12/2009)..let the political class do their thing and lets see where it takes us...we've already seen where the other road leads to and no good has ever come out of it...so we might as well just set our boats onto uncharted waters and pray that we end up at the right place

im a failed comparativist

Iv failed to properly compare why procedural democracy has survived in the face of vertical cleavages in malaysia as opposed to pakistan. Theres a reason for the dismal nature of my failure, which is that sometimes two countries are just far too different to be compared. I went to my instructor to ask for an approval on my initial topic which was a comparative analysis of institution building between Pakistan and India and she responded by shooting me down on the technicality that both the countries are from the same region and the course specifically asks for a comparison between two countries from DIFFERENT regions. This technicality has caused me a great deal of pain as i labored through a make belief comparison between pakistan and malaysia...more so because when i told the instructor that comparative literature between the two is not available she said well consider your work to be ground breaking. Now i feel that there is no ground to break and all iv broken is a lot of wind and hot air (haha)....This has to be the most superficial paper iv ever written in my entire life...this leads me to my second point which is that the quantity of academic work within the social sciences specifically on pakistan is miniscule...my current resolve is to contribute what little i can to the tiny body of work on pakistani politics and i urge the few blog readers that i have, to do the same (if you havent sold out to the corporate world already; even if you have theres plenty of time to turn back from the dark side, vader did it right before he threw the emperor into the big hole in the middle of the death star)

Its days like these when i love London

The funny/sad thing is that i love London on these days simply because of SOAS and not because of anything special that the city has to offer. if there's something iv learned over the last 2 months, its that i am inherently a very boring person and it doesn't take a lot to make me comfortable. This passage of self-actualization was actually achieved when i realized that iv been living in this city for 2 months and i hadn't even seen the thing called big ben or the parliament or Buckingham palace. Iv been to oxford street a grand total of two times and i haven't seen a single: west-end show, off west-end show, off off west-end show, movie at a cinema, concert or football match. I've been to burger king twice, Mcdonalds once, a sit down restaurant once and surprisingly i dont have kosher/halal food issues either. However what i just had was a completely orgasmic class on the writings of James Scott and the problems associated with post-structural historiography and political narrative. Julia Gallagher is an amazing instructor and i stepped out of her class feeling a lot happier about being here.

and i just realized i lead a sad sad life

kill me now......

So the Swiss dont like minarets

It was Denmark with the cartoons, Holland with the documentary, France with the headscarves and now Switzerland with the ban on minarets. The reason that the Swiss Peoples Party (SVP) have given is that they do not conform to the architectural heritage of the country and are a provocative symbol that highlight more than just religious exhibitionism. Yes, you heard it right, the ban on minarets is directly connected to the metaphysical abilities of tall concrete structures to induce extremism and militancy. The logic is undoubtedly infallible and indestructible as human kind has probably not come up with the requisite tools of analytical confrontation to a challenge such as the one thrown by this very explanation. What it has done is to highlight the messy relationship between state-enforced secularism and state-granted freedom of speech/religion/opinion/architectural will....post-enlightenment rationality is clearly pissing its pants as it has been for the last 30 years or so. As a distant and apathetic observer i just hope this does not give rise to another spate of tradition vs modernity pieces filling up the op-ed columns of newspapers everywhere...there is no larger battle between tradition and modernity...everything is modern these days...the immigrants who built those minarets went to Switzerland for everything which we classify as modern...the high consumption lifestyle...the good life in the alps with blond girls and red passports....but on a serious note i think western europe needs to reevaluate the fundamental foundations of its professed secularism. their version of the social contract clearly did not forsee the immigrant movements that would make their previously insulated consensus vulnerable to new questions...

Mahmoud Mamdani's brilliance

'In the event that a real life performance did not correspond to the prescribed trajectory, it was understood as a deviation. The bipolarity thus turned on a double distinction: between experiences considered universal and normal and those seen as residual and pathological. The residual or deviant case was understood not in terms of what it was, but with reference to what it was not. "Premodern" thus became "not yet modern" and "precapitalism" "not yet capitalism". But can a student, for example, be understood as not yet a teacher? Put differently, is being a professional teacher the true and necessary destiny of every student? The residual term in the evolutionary enterprise "premodern," "preindustrial," "precapitalist," or "underdeveloped" really summed up the "etc." of unilinear social science, that which it tended to explain away.'


Page No. 9, Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: contemporary Africa and the legacy of late colonialism, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996 (chapter one)


This paragraph is perhaps the most eloquent explanation of how disturbing the duality of modern socio-political and economic terminology really is. At the same time, the author in a later paragraph warns us of the dangers associated with falling prey to the disease of essentialism or the practice of providing unlimited agency to actors who have been formerly characterized as being governed by binding historical structures...The only way to understand where we stand today as individuals in the post-colonial context is to understand both approaches and use them on a case to case basis....