{"title":"Unity in diversity: constituting and constructing Pakistan’s national identity","authors":"F. Siddiqi","doi":"10.1080/00358533.2022.2149118","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article critically explores the evolution and expression of a Pakistani national identity as a project of assertion in the post-colonial period. While the initial years of Pakistan’s independence were marked by ambiguity over the religious versus secular direction of the Pakistani identity, there was no dithering over an absolutist national identity (Pakistani) that was to be strictly followed and ordained in contrast to sub-national, ethnic identities. The article presents three elemental positions of Pakistan’s national identity discourse: the nationalist/primordialist, the perennialist and the social constructivist. Rooting its argument in the social constructivist episteme but also moving beyond it by indulging in a normative approach, the article argues in favour of a humanist-centred interpretation that eschews differentiation and normalises an inclusive, tolerant and diversity-acceptant definition of Pakistani identity.","PeriodicalId":35685,"journal":{"name":"Round Table","volume":"111 1","pages":"709 - 723"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Round Table","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2022.2149118","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
ABSTRACT This article critically explores the evolution and expression of a Pakistani national identity as a project of assertion in the post-colonial period. While the initial years of Pakistan’s independence were marked by ambiguity over the religious versus secular direction of the Pakistani identity, there was no dithering over an absolutist national identity (Pakistani) that was to be strictly followed and ordained in contrast to sub-national, ethnic identities. The article presents three elemental positions of Pakistan’s national identity discourse: the nationalist/primordialist, the perennialist and the social constructivist. Rooting its argument in the social constructivist episteme but also moving beyond it by indulging in a normative approach, the article argues in favour of a humanist-centred interpretation that eschews differentiation and normalises an inclusive, tolerant and diversity-acceptant definition of Pakistani identity.
Round TableSocial Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development
CiteScore
1.70
自引率
0.00%
发文量
77
期刊介绍:
Founded in 1910, The Round Table, Britain"s oldest international affairs journal, provides analysis and commentary on all aspects of international affairs. The journal is the major source for coverage of policy issues concerning the contemporary Commonwealth and its role in international affairs, with occasional articles on themes of historical interest. The Round Table has for many years been a repository of informed scholarship, opinion, and judgement regarding both international relations in general, and the Commonwealth in particular, with authorship and readership drawn from the worlds of government, business, finance and academe.