Nostalgic Impact on Characterization in the "Reluctant Fundamentalist" by Mohsin Hamid
This paper aims at investigating the nostalgic impact on the characters in The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. Nostalgia is regarded as the state of homesick or a mental sentimentality for one's past. Everyone is more or less nostalgic, and nostalgia plays a vital role in the lives and experiences of individuals in daily life. The present study is a qualitative and descriptive textual analysis. The Reluctant Fundamentalist has been examined by analyzing the words, sentences, characters and their actions from the nostalgic point of view. This study has investigated the nostalgic impact on the characters, especially on Changez and Erica, through the lens of nostalgia by focusing on their personalities, works, social lives, actions and reactions. This study has found that nostalgia influences and molds the lives and experiences of characters and individuals to an extensive extent. Changes and Erica spoil their lives but are not ready to come out of their nostalgic worlds. The Reluctant Fundamentalist has been analyzed and interpreted through different dimensions, but no one has discussed it from a nostalgia point of view before. So, this paper is a primary investigation and would surely contribute to the present stock of knowledge.
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Nostalgia, Reluctant Fundamentalist, Changes, Erica
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(1) Ishtiaq Ahmad
Qurtuba University of Sciences and Information Technology, Dera Ismail Khan, KP, Pakistan.
(2) Abdus Samad
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, KP, Pakistan.
(3) Muhammad Shakil ur Rehman
Department of English, Qurtuba University of Sciences and Information Technology, Dera Ismail Khan, KP, Pakistan.
The Clash of Economic and Religious Fundamentalism in Aslam's The Blind Man's Garden
This study aims to understand the clashes between American economic fundamentalists and Islamic religious fundamentalists in South Asia regarding Nadeem Aslam's The Blind Man's Garden (2013). The study explores that the economic entrepreneurs of the neo-imperialists give birth to counterproductive acts of religiosity. It shows how the ugliness of economic hunger is adroitly hidden behind the polished face of globalization, just as the priggish and snobbish religiosity of Muslim fundamentalists encloses their avarice for power and wealth. Using Tariq Ali's theory of Clashes of Fundamentalisms, the study proves that the root cause of civilizational clashes is the outcome of conflicts of interests between Western economic fundamentalists and Muslim religious fundamentalists. The study concludes the economic, political, cultural and strategic motives working behind the goals of establishing neo-imperialism through the elimination of borders for neo-liberalist gains in the wake of the war on terror.
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Fundamentalism, War on Terror, Globalization, Glocalization
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(1) Atta-ul-Mustafa
Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Linguistics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
(2) Muhammad Asaf Amir
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Institute of Southern Punjab, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.
(3) Sardar Ahmad Farooq
Lecturer, Department of English, Government Postgraduate College, Mansehra, KP, Pakistan.
Moratorium or Achievement: Identity Statuses in Mohsin Hamids The Reluctant Fundamentalist
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) traces the evolution of Changezs sense of belonging by encompassing a substantial part of his life odyssey, ranging from his movement to the US for higher studies to his disillusionment and redirection of fundamental desires. This study explores those transformative stages that help shape his identity. For this purpose, James Marcias theory of identity achievement has been used as a theoretical framework. Marcia (1980) contends that certain situations and events (called crises) act as catalysts to prompt identity moratorium. The internal conflict caused by such catalysts stimulates adolescents to probe into their beliefs, goals and values. Changez also encounters the four statuses described by Marcia i.e., identity diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium and final achievement. Consequently, a refraction in his sense of belonging takes place - from love for American exceptionalism to love for Pakistan and Islam (Morey, 2011). This study evaluates the level of identity achievement in Changez as a result of this refraction
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Identity Achievement, Identity Moratorium, Islam, Pakistan, Sense of Belonging, Fundamental.
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(1) Ayesha Perveen
PhD Scholar, Department of English & Literary Studies, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Punjab,Pakistan.
(2) Nadia Anwar
Assistant Professor, Department of English and Literary Studies,University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
02 Pages : 9-16
http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-II).02 10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-II).02 Published : Jun 2021A Critique of American Supremacist Politics in Cold War in Sorayya Khan's City of Spies
The present study investigates the representation of America in Anglophone Pakistani Literature with a special focus on Sorayya Khan's City of Spies with the assumption to trace some possible connection between American intervention and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the context of Pakistan's politics. Given the American intervention in Pakistani politics and its indelible impact on the domestic and international scenario had made the country a virtual battleground for the superpowers of the world. Khan's novel situates this conflict in the aftermath of the military coup of General Zia, followed by the Afghan war and (c)overt American alliance in it, which brought about serious implications for the Pakistani state. The story of the novel offers some pertinent extracts which deal, literally or metaphorically, with the role and representation of America in these geostrategic events. The article has used the critical cultural angle by investing the theoretical views of Ziauddin Sardar in terms of the Muslim world's apathy for America in the aftermath of cold war politics are used to get a better insight into the central problem by underscoring how this foreign policy of America has been responsible for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan.
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American Intervention, Islamic Fundamentalism, Cold War
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(1) Irfan Farid
MPhil, Department of English, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
(2) Asma Aftab
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
(3) Zubair Iqbal
MPhil, Department of English, University of Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
Neo-Colonialist critique of Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Kincaid's A Small Place: A Comparative Postcolonial Study
With a specific focus on two different novels from different continents, the study analyzes the current American neocolonialist hegemonic behavior, which is causing developing countries to remain in a doldrum. The data is based upon the comparative analysis of selected textual paragraphs taken from Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Kincaid's A Small Place. Both Mohsin Hamid and Jamaica Kincaid assert that due to the American neo-colonialist regime, indigenous cultures of so many countries of the African and Asian continent have suffered a lot. Theoretical insights for this research have been drawn from Kwame Nkrumah's concept of neo-colonialism. Nkrumah defined neocolonialism as the exploitation of former colonial subjects by European conquerors for political, economic, cultural, ideological, and military gain. The research concludes that although with the inception of the United Nations Organization the colonialism has formally come to an end still the American neo-colonial supremacy is disturbing the people of once colonized countries through various economic, political, and ideological maneuverings.
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Hamid, Neo-Colonialist Critique, Reluctant Fundamentalist, Postcolonial Study, Kincaid
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(1) Arshad Nawaz
Lecturer, Department of English, Government College University Faisalabad, Sub-Campus Hafizabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
(2) Ahmad Ali
Lecturer English, Department of Natural Science and Humanities, University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
(3) Kalsoom Saddique
University of Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
State of Media Independence and Journalists' Struggle for Press Freedom in Faisalabad, Pakistan
This research paper presents an overview of the journalists' efforts for the maintenance of the fundamental right of Freedom of Press and Expression in Faisalabad, Pakistan. The current study also observed the role of media personals as a silent speed breaker against the powerful dictator of the time General Parvez Musharraf and his regimen the third-largest city of the Pakistan Faisalabad. The study explains the scenario of resistance in the journalistic community against Musharraf's draconian rule in the country, especially focused on the struggle of media personnel in Faisalabad, against Musharraf regime for the freedom of expression as well as freedom of media. The study assesses the scenario to break the political silence during the rule of a powerful military dictator in2002 as well as in 2007. This paper may be helpful to understand the struggle against the Musharraf regime by journalists in Faisalabad. The study resulted that journalists of Faisalabad broke the silence by opposing the dictatorship of the Musharraf regime and played a significant role as human rights defenders in 2002 and also at the time of promulgating the emergency in November 2007. The study is the outcome of the qualitative content analysis of media reports as well as in-depth interviews of the senior media professionals and the sound survey of the literature published on democracy, basic human rights, and freedom of expression and the media
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Media Independence, Fundamental Rights, Silent Breaker, Journalists, Human Rights Defenders, Musharraf Regime, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Media
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(1) Irem Sultana
Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communications, Government College University Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan
(2) Hamid Yaseen Ahmed
Assistant Secretary, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Pakistan
(3) Rao Shahid Mahmood
Assistant Professor Department of Media Studies, The Islamia University Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan