What is Orientalism?
Introduction What is Orientalism? This questions is often posed by the students of postcolonial studies. Published in 1978, Edward Said's Orientalism is easily one of the most influential academic [...]
Literature as a Way to Learn the World
In one of his interviews, while speaking on the relevance of postcolonial studies, Dr. Raja said that the postcolonial world can understand their conflicts and issues better by reading and [...]
Rhizomatic Literaties: A Publishing Initiative by Three Pakistani Women
I recently came across this publishing initiative on instagram. Since I found their project so fascinating, I requested the founders for more information so that I could lend them my [...]
Reflections on Life in Academia
Life in Academia This life in academia is actually my second career. I am a combat veteran who came to academic life after spending most of my youth in [...]
Reflections on English Literary Studies
About ten years ago, my former department went through a collective soul-searching in the process of defining our departmental mission. There were two competing visions of literary studies that became [...]
Humanities Make Humans
(Note: This is a modified version of an article published in Friday Times, Lahore) We often hear, in public and private conversations, that Pakistani culture and politics will become better [...]
The ISIS Caliphate: Some Concluding Thoughts
(This is an excerpt from the conclusion of my recent book: ISIS: Ideology, Symbolics and Counter Narratives.) There are some brilliantly researched books on ISIS, I consulted most of them, [...]
The World We Inhabit and the Need to Change it
The World We Inhabit and the Need for Change In one of his works, Emmanuel Levinas poses a set of important ethical questions about the nature of our interactions with [...]
What is Postcolonial Studies?
I have noticed that I am always at a loss when someone asks me: What do you mean by postcolonialism? The answer, invariably always, involves a convoluted explanation of [...]