PAKISTANI IDENTITIES AND POST-COLONIAL POWER STRUCTURES IN KAMILA SHAMSIE’S BEST OF FRIENDS

Abstract

For the purpose of this research, the novel Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie has been analysed through the perspective of postcolonialism. The postcolonial environment of South Asia has been characterised by intricate power relations and identities that are up for debate, with the area standing out as a particularly powerful discourses of these tensions. Despite the fact that there is a vast body of literature that investigates the sociopolitical elements of Pakistan, there is a huge research vacuum in the area of understanding the formation and contestation of Pakistani identities within the context of postcolonial hegemonic frameworks. With reference to both the Pakistani setting and the diasporic position of Pakistani people, this thesis investigates how Foucauldian discourses of power and discursive practices might be employed to decode the diverse narratives of Pakistani identities that are found in Kamila Shamsie’s Best of Friends. Additionally, the investigation of the function that historical narratives, state apparatuses, and hegemonic discourses play in the production and negotiation of Pakistani identities, based on subjectivities is a topic that has been investigated in the research. The purpose of this study was to uncover the ways in which these writings question or perpetuate the postcolonial hegemonic discourses in the context of Pakistani communities, both those living at home and those living in diaspora whose identities have been shaped. It was accomplished through the use of Foucauldian discourses. In addition to this, it investigates the ways in which literature serves as a place of resistance and subversion against hegemonic forces, therefore offering alternative narratives and points of view on Pakistani identities. While in Pakistan, this research makes a contribution to the larger discourse on postcolonialism, identity politics, and the function of literature in forming and resisting hegemonic narratives within the South Asian context. In particular, this research focusses on Pakistan