The ‘savage’ Pathan (Pashtun) and the postcolonial burden

Abstract

Ethnic Pashtuns, especially in Pakistan, have suffered from racialised colonial narratives and representations that portray them as ‘uncivilised’, ‘primitive’, and ‘violence-condoning’ individuals. Adding to this predicament, many ethnographic and political, especially colonial, accounts on the Pashtuns are authored by non-native writers leading to an absence of ‘Pashtun voices’ and counter-narratives in the literature. Pakistani policymakers and security experts, mainly based in and around the ‘centre’ (Punjab province) more specifically, have also failed in highlighting the consequential role of the colonial legacies which made the ‘tribal’ Pashtun region an ‘area of legal exception’, keeping it out of the scope of the Pakistani constitution and contributed to the ‘othering’ of Pashtuns in the country. As a result, Pashtuns, even today, are perceived as terrorists and traitors. Overcoming and countering these Orientalist generalisations, the ‘academy’ can start by encouraging and mainstreaming native and indigenous perspectives, giving them equal representation and space in literature.

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