The Populism of Piety by Maryam Wasif Khan
Talk
By the second decade of the twenty-first century, seventy odd years in Pakistan’s existence, ideals of nationhood and state have been transformed into a radically reimagined Muslimness. This is constructed within popular novels and television series authored by bestselling writers, Umera Ahmad, Nimra Ahmad, and Farhat Ishtiaq. Is this “new” Muslim, predominantly signified by young women, the contemporary reincarnation of a salafi?
Maryam Wasif Khan is Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies at LUMS, Lahore. Her first book is Who is a Muslim: Orientalism and Literary Populisms (Fordham University Press, 2021).
Location: College of Art & Design, Punjab University
Date: February 20, 2020