Organizer and Chair: Anita M. Weiss, University of Oregon
Discussants: John Esposito, Georgetown University; Ayesha Jalal, Columbia University
Traditional centers of power in Pakistan are eroding without any seemingly coherent challenges or alternatives. Indeed, real authority is notable by its very absence, and there is an accelerating drift towards non acceptance of authority at all levels of society. Meanwhile, there is a dramatic increase in the perceived need to attain power by any means at almost all levels of society. Money, gained by any means (whether morally legitimate or not) has become an important instrument and signifier of power. Consequently, there is a surface level conformity amid growing cynicism and skepticism about the legitimacy of authority.
The pluralistic framework within an Islamic context in which Pakistan was initially envisioned is being battered by increasing ethnocentrism and sectarianism. This panel addresses three central themes concerning the discourse of power in Pakistani civil society: personal; gendered and legal. Zulfiqar Gilani addresses the way in which child rearing practices and childhood experiences affect social patterns of relations, which in turn affect social values. In articulating the links between the societal and the individual, his work contributes greatly to our understanding of the psychological underpinnings of the crisis of power and authority today. Anita Weiss examines different manifestations of gendered power and places these in the context of larger power configurations in Pakistan. She analyzes male and female perceptions of power-as well as the practical exercise of power-within the family, the educational system, and in the economy. Tayyab Mahmud explores the structure of the legal system in Pakistan, and the ways in which this system lends itself to the current crisis of cynicism, skepticism and power. John Esposito, a renowned scholar of Islamist movements who has published extensively on the Jama'at i Islami and other religious groups in Pakistan (and former President of the Middle Eastern Studies Association), as the first discussant will place these three themes in the crisis of authority into the context of Islamic sentiments and political power in Pakistan. Ayesha Jalal, a noted political historian, as second discussant will draw connections between these three themes and the military in Pakistan.
This panel is envisioned as a foundation for an edited volume concerning power and authority in contemporary Pakistan. The participants intend to use the opportunity of the venue of the AAS to finalize the organization of the volume, and to interact with other interested scholars on these pivotal themes within Pakistani society.
Syed Zulfiqar Gilani, University of Peshawar
It is considered axiomatic that power is an essential characteristic of the human condition. However, the manifestations of power and power relations vary from place to place and time to time. This paper focuses upon the psycho social underpinnings of power and power relations discernible in Pakistani society. I will examine child rearing practices (in the psychoanalytic tradition) with special (but not exclusive) attention to the psycho social milieu of the growing male child, noting in particular the possible implications of childhood experiences to social patterns of relating, which in turn affect social values. The assumption is that the psychic make up of individuals in society have a critical bearing upon group processes. However, this is by no means a one-way street. That is, individual psychic structures are in turn embedded in, and in important ways are a function of, the sociocultural. Thus we have to try and unveil the complex entanglements between individual and society. While the starting point of this paper is at the level of the individual, the real agenda is to identify and articulate the links between the societal and the individual, with specific reference to power and power relations.
Anita M. Weiss, University of Oregon
Pakistan is undergoing unprecedented social transformation and challenges. The combination of the new international division of labor and the global telecommunications revolution is having a more penetrating effect on social norms than any external force ever has. Where women fit into these changing social processes is critical, requiring a constant renegotiation of power relations within the social order. Conflicting notions regarding the place and power of women is resulting in profound social, economic and political consequences.
In this paper I will examine different manifestations of gendered power in various Pakistani social institutions, and place these in the context of larger power configurations in Pakistan. I analyze male and female perceptions of power-as well as the practical exercise of power-within the family, the educational system, and in the economy. My intention is to understand the conflicting roles women are encountering and the ways in which women and men think of accommodating them. I focus on how a reallocation of obligations is occurring, resulting in a redistribution of gender based rights, obligations and power.
Tayyab Mahmud, Cleveland State University
Successive constitutions of Pakistan have contemplated the separation of state power, with a superior judiciary charged with preservation of the constitutional order and protection of fundamental rights of citizens. The performance of the judiciary, however, has been dismal on both counts. This paper aims at examining the nature and causes of this failure.
This paper will first focus on the doctrinally inconsistent and politically timid responses of the judiciary to successive extra-constitutional usurpations of state power. It will then analyze the failure of the judiciary to protect fundamental rights in general and the freedom of conscience, belief and religion in particular. Lastly, I will explore the causes of these failures with a focus on entrenched power relationships in the society.
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