R S S Re-Rooting the De-Rooted: Reconstruction of Pakistani Culture

R S www.irss.academyirmbr.com December 2020 S International Review of Social Sciences Vol. 8 Issue.12 I Re-rooting the De-rooted: Reconstruction of Pakistani Culture in Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist MUHAMMAD YAR TANVIR Assistant Professor of English, Govt. P/ G College Samanabad, Faisalabad Pakistan.(Ph.D English Scholar, GCUF) Email: [email protected] Dr. ALI USMAN SALEEM Assistant Professor of English, GCUF, Faisalabad Pakistan. Email: [email protected] Dr. MAZHAR HAYAT Professor of English, GCUF Faisalabad Pakistan. Email: [email protected] Abstract Pakistani Anglophone fiction outlines a reconstruction of marginalized indigenous culture. Native culture has faced socio-economic, political and historical hegemony from the European oppressive white colonizers for centuries, creating disillusionment among the native people. As a result the indigenous cultural ethos gets de-rooted and creates nostalgia for the lost historico-cultural roots. This research highlights how oppressed cultures do not simply exist in void rather continuously endeavor and have the potential to relocate their roots and reconstruct a positive and optimistic picture of the otherwise de-rooted ‘self’. Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an effort to reemphasize indigenous cultural traditions and to question the impact of the western hegemonic discursive and ideological practices. The paper establishes that Hamid consciously tries to revisit and rewrite the native Pakistani culture through his strategy of ‘returning to roots’ for the amelioration of indigenous socio-economic, political and cultural strata, hence re-roots the previously de-rooted indigenous culture. Keywords: Re-rooting, Reconstruction, Hegemony, Marginalization, Location, Culture. Introduction The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) exhibits an ideological reconstruction of Pakistani culture regarding its oppressed socio-political, economic and cultural constructs. Pakistani culture has far deeper roots than the very inception of Pakistan as an independent sovereign state on 14th of August 1947 with Islamic culture rooted in its social and national identity. The distinct Islamic culture of the area is a source of continuous interest for the researchers in various fields of life.The post 9/11 western media (both print and electronic) stereotypes the Muslims as potential terrorists or terrorist sympathizers and a threat to the world peace. However, this stereotypical representation of the Muslims is biased; its propagation is agenda-driven and oblivious of the true culture and identity of the Muslims. This paper argues that Hamid through The Reluctant Fundamentalist tries to revisit and reconstruct the true culture and ideological rootedness of the Pakistanis. Culture, through its various manifestations and practices, has always been a rich area of study for the literary and cultural theorists alike. Raymond Williams (1983) considers culture as one of the few most complicated words in the English language with ―a range of meanings: inhabit, cultivate, protect, honor with worship‖ (p. 13). Williams‘ idea of culture is based upon an unchanged capitalist ordering of social life and a ―customary difference‖. He argues that, ―[o]ur customs are that which we are accustomed ISSN 2309-0081 Tanvir, Saleem & Hayat (2020) 180 R S www.irss.academyirmbr.com December 2020 S International Review of Social Sciences Vol. 8 Issue.12 I to and that which others are not‖ (1963, p. 79). George Simmel (1971) argues that "[c]ulture refers to the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms that have been objectified to in the realm of history" (Page 19). On the other Spradley and McCardy (2008) say that culture is "a kind of knowledge, not a behavior: it is the head of the people. It reflects the mental types that they learn from others as they grow older. It helps to create behavior and express what they experience. Kendall (2006) is closer to Krupat when he says that "cultures are generally not static. Many forces are working for change and diversity. While some societies and individuals embrace this change, others find it a cultural shock and fell a victim to racial prejudice. ‖(P. 57).Keeping in view the above illustrations, it is apt to say that reconstruction of any culture is a natural and continuous process. It goes through transitory phases with the passage of time. It degenerates too in the same way quite naturally. The native Pakistani culture, situated in its Islamic roots, has gone through various changes and shifts. Remarkable social changes have left indomitable impressions on its cultural heritage. Pakistani culture has its specific rituals, traditions, customs and habits with a remarkable impact on the everyday observance of social, political, cultural and historical traditions. With the colonization of the Indian sub-continent, this specific culture got relegated to the margins, which Hamid, along with other Anglophone Pakistani writers, tries to revitalize through his fiction. The Reluctant Fundamentalist has been reviewed and critiqued by many, and most of them have focused on the events taking place in post-9/11 world politics. In Stephens (2011) ‗Beyond Imaginative Geographies? Criticism, sharing and imagination as a result of the War on Terror argue that The Reluctant Fundamentalist pursues imperialist strategies in order to undermine its response by the American nation and government to 'us' and 'them'. Separate imaginary geographies of 9/11 and the War on Terror. Morey (2013) focuses on Hamid's grammatical strategy and the use of confessional and dramatic monologue forms to change the civilized vs. terrorist binary to challenge the ideologically connected worldview of the people living in peripheral situations. […] the novel not only effectively authorizes the cultural belief inspired by the "true confessions" of the former radicals, but also the reader through hyperboles, strategic excuses, beavery layering, and unreliable narratives. Not only does it help to destabilize identity, but it also hurts our connection to the literary projects of national identity. We demand readers empowered by the emerging category of world literature (Morey, 2013, p. 136). The use of dramatic monologue not only highlights the version of those sitting on the margins, Cahngez in this case, but also keeps the center, the US interlocutor, silent for his readers. Hamid, despite neither being an ethnocentric nor a historiographic writer, contextualizes the traits of marginalized native cultural identity in his narratives. He draws a clear ideological image of Pakistani culture and this paper is a reflection of his reconstruction of Pakistani cultural roots in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. This research draws the attention of the readers towards the fact that Pakistani society does not exist in a cultural void rather through the relocation of cultural roots in the sub-continental civilization it can challenge the discursively hegemonic and stereotypical western gaze. Reconstruction as a theoretical construct is specifically rooted in the African–American studies, which reflects an emancipative effect on once enslaved African population in America. Reconstruction, in the Afro-American context, through the slogan of equality and brotherhood won the rights of citizenship and freedom for the Blacks and promised a new socio-political and economic environment for them. However, it has a general connotation too. Global intelligentsia tried through their writings to bring the oppressed out of cultural loss and the resultant humiliation and suppression (Jarrett, 2016). Reconstruction integrates critique and deconstruction. It controls the negativity of dialectics through a positive creation. Reconstruction pacifies violence and corrects the pessimism of the intellect with the optimism of the will. Methodological Assumptions This research is qualitative in nature and the method for the analysis would be textual analysis. The analytical and interpretative of the research makes textual analysis the most appropriate as it ―involves a ISSN 2309-0081 Tanvir, Saleem & Hayat (2020) 181 R S www.irss.academyirmbr.com December 2020 S International Review of Social Sciences Vol. 8 Issue.12 I close encounter with the work itself, an examination of the detail without bringing to them more presuppositions than we can help‖(Belsey in Griffin, 2014, p.160). Habermas (1991), through his revisionary project supplants rationality with communicative rationality. In his view, rationality is possibly inherent in the language and establishes a relationship between techno-rationality and socio-political rationality. Language is not apolitical, ahistorical or innocent rather very much political, engaged and articulated. Habermas contends that knowledge does not arise neutrally rather beginning of knowledge is always associated with human interest which varies greatly and can be located in socio-cultural forms of life. Social rooted-ness of truth or knowledge can be negotiated through speech and action and this ability of human beings allows him to transcend subjectivity in favor of a collective good (Habermas, 1991a). Thus human speech and actions are formative of human cultures. If individuals shun subjectivity and become objective then socio-cultural revision and reconstruction is possible, for which Habermas is highly optimistic. Habermas says, as quoted by Boeder (2005) that ―our actions and interests are not only self- generated, they also have an emancipatory role to play‖ (pp. 175-177). He

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