{"title":"Violent conflict and National identity among the Pakistani Pukhtuns (Pashtuns) in Swat Pakistan: A theoretical and empirical exploration","authors":"S. Azim, Muhammad Usman Shakir","doi":"10.1080/14608944.2023.2166912","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Using an extended constructivist position and the case study of Pukhtuns in Swat, Pakistan, this study outlines the interplay between violent conflict (between Muslim Militants and Pakistani state military) and National identity and its markers. The conflict is peculiar; (1) because of the use of Islam by Muslim militants which is an identity marker for Pakistani national identity and Pukhtun ethnic identity, (2) the case of Swat, an ex-princely state integrated only in 1969 in Pakistan with a history of religious violent mobilizations. Further, as Pakistani state has been facing problems with the process of national integration of its multiple ethnicities, the case of national identity becomes significant to be explored The study argues that the impacts of conflict and violence on national identity are complex and multi-dimensional. National identity is neither lost nor reaffirmed, yet as a result of the violent conflict. The article explores the impacts of violent conflict for religion (Islam), State institutions (military), discourses (of pride, sacrifice, and complains) and national symbols (holidays) as markers of National Identity in Pakistan through a fieldwork in Swat from November 2016 to May 2017 and later in November 2021.","PeriodicalId":45917,"journal":{"name":"NATIONAL IDENTITIES","volume":"25 1","pages":"265 - 293"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"NATIONAL IDENTITIES","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14608944.2023.2166912","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"POLITICAL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT Using an extended constructivist position and the case study of Pukhtuns in Swat, Pakistan, this study outlines the interplay between violent conflict (between Muslim Militants and Pakistani state military) and National identity and its markers. The conflict is peculiar; (1) because of the use of Islam by Muslim militants which is an identity marker for Pakistani national identity and Pukhtun ethnic identity, (2) the case of Swat, an ex-princely state integrated only in 1969 in Pakistan with a history of religious violent mobilizations. Further, as Pakistani state has been facing problems with the process of national integration of its multiple ethnicities, the case of national identity becomes significant to be explored The study argues that the impacts of conflict and violence on national identity are complex and multi-dimensional. National identity is neither lost nor reaffirmed, yet as a result of the violent conflict. The article explores the impacts of violent conflict for religion (Islam), State institutions (military), discourses (of pride, sacrifice, and complains) and national symbols (holidays) as markers of National Identity in Pakistan through a fieldwork in Swat from November 2016 to May 2017 and later in November 2021.
期刊介绍:
National Identities explores the formation and expression of national identity from antiquity to the present day. It examines the role in forging identity of cultural (language, architecture, music, gender, religion, the media, sport, encounters with "the other" etc.) and political (state forms, wars, boundaries) factors, by examining how these have been shaped and changed over time. The historical significance of "nation"in political and cultural terms is considered in relationship to other important and in some cases countervailing forms of identity such as religion, region, tribe or class. The focus is on identity, rather than on contingent political forms that may express it. The journal is not prescriptive or proscriptive in its approach.