Momentum

Formerly part of the British Empire, Pakistan became independent in 1947 and is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. But when a nation’s boundaries are created by a former colonizer, how does that impact people’s sense of belonging? 

Shazia Rahman, University of Dayton literary critic and associate professor of English, explores that question — and others — in Place and Postcolonial Ecofeminism: Pakistani Women’s Literary and Cinematic Fictions. With each chapter focusing on a different place in Pakistan, the book traces the ways in which Pakistani women explore alternative, environmental modes of belonging. 

For example, one chapter explores how the people who live in the desert in India and Pakistan feel they belong to the desert; the nation-state isn’t as pressing to their way of thinking about where they live.

Through analysis of films such as Sabiha Sumar’s Khamosh Pani and Mehreen Jabbar’s Ramchand Pakistani, and novels that include Sorayya Khan’s Noor, Uzma Aslam Khan’s Trespassing and Kamila Shamsie’s Burnt Shadows, Rahman illuminates how these works simultaneously critique and counter stereotypes about Pakistan as a country of religious nationalism and oppressive patriarchy.

“Just because something is dominant and mainstream doesn’t mean it is all that is out there,” Rahman said. “I wanted to draw attention to less dominant voices, what women were saying and the ways in which they have a more environmental way of thinking about where they live and how they belong.” 

The book grew out of Rahman’s teaching about postcolonial literature from around the globe. She previously spent 17 years at Western Illinois University, where she was a tenured full professor. After seeing news reports about Pakistan that largely focused on regional tensions and terrorist attacks, she developed a course in Pakistani literature to offer her students a different perspective.

“I want to humanize the people from this country, and what better way to do that than to have students read literature from that country and get to know the people,” she said. “As I started to do that, I found I had a lot to say about what I was teaching.”

And from there, the book was formed.

“There is a lot more going on than what you see on the news in Pakistan,” she said. “Hopefully, my book will help you see the rest.”