Rethinking Identities in Contemporary Pakistani Fiction: Beyond 9/11 [Paperback]

This book focuses on the way that notions of home and identity have changed for Muslims as a result of international 'war on terror' rhetoric. It uniquely links the post-9/11 stereotyping of Muslims and Islam in the West to the roots of current jihadism and the resurgence of ethnocentrism within the subcontinent and beyond.Acknowledgements Introduction 1. How the World Changed: Narratives of Nationhood and Displaced Muslim Identities 2. Responding to 9/11: Contextualising the Subcontinent and Beyond 3. Reimagining Home Spaces: Pre- and Post-9/11 Constructions of Home and Pakistani Muslim Identity 4. Global Ummah: Negotiating Transnational Muslim Identities Coda: Re-imagining Pakistan Notes Bibliography Index

'This book identifies and engages with a topic of prime importance, namely Pakistani Muslims' post-9/11 literary production. Given that Malala Yousafzai was recently co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to great acclaim from the world and mixed feelings from many Pakistanis, few can doubt that there is much at stake in the images produced of Islam by cultural, media, and marketing forces. Aroosa Kanwal effectively uses writers' journalism to illuminate their fictional works, and is a consummate reader of both texts and theories. Today's Pakistani authors are 'writing back' to dominant discourses in important ways, and Kanwal is one of the best emerging scholars exploring their work.' Claire Chambers, University of York, UK

Aroosa Kanwal is Assistant Professor in English Literature at International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. She teaches Pakistani literature in English, postcolonial theory and literature, literary theory, modern drama, literary criticism and modern poetry. She received her PhD from Lancaster University, UK. Her current research interests include diasporic writings, politics of representation, and questions of migration, borders, identity and resistance in postcolonial literatures, in particular of South Asia.