Parallel Narratives of Identity and Self in Contemporary Pakistani Art and Literature

The presentation introduces the various voices in contemporary Pakistani literature and art that often go unnoticed in international representation of the country. It will bring out various local themes and metaphors regarding self and identity to broaden the debate in Pakistan Studies and the country’s representation in general, and contesting the assumption that Pakistan is whatever is perceived of it in the world outside through news media or English language fiction. The presentation engages with three recent examples in Urdu and English fiction besides art: (a) the shaping of a postcolonial subjectivity aware of its historical situatedness even while engaging with a ‘borrowed’ western intellectual baggage; (b) a cop’s precarious encounter with the terrorist who masterminded the execution of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl; (c) the intersection of art, religion and blasphemy in the minefield of ‘tabooed’ sexuality in an art world that’s becoming increasingly borderless.