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Department of Anthropology Papers Department of Anthropology

6-2001

Pakistan Studies in the Age of Globalization

Brian Spooner University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Spooner, B. (2001). Studies in the Age of Globalization. News, 3 (2), 1-5. Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/anthro_papers/69

Pakistan Studies News is the official newsletter of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies. This text was adapted from a talk given at the inaugural reception of the new AIPS Center on January 4, 2001.

This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/anthro_papers/69 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Pakistan Studies in the Age of Globalization

Abstract Over the past decade it has gradually become apparent that we are living in an age that is characterized by globalization. There is no single accepted definition of this process, although the word has been in our vocabulary for forty years. Our initial efforts to make sense of it have understandably focused so far on economic and political consequences. These are the most conspicuous, but the long-term significance is deeper and more comprehensive. Globalization has been building for several decades, and may have been inevitable. It is already palpable in relatively conservative sectors of our lives, such as the academic curriculum, and our formulation of research problems. It affects the year-to-year planning of institutions like AIPS, because of changes in the priorities of funding agencies, as well as individual academic careers. Unlike other types of social and cultural change over the past generation, globalization (as the term itself implies) is essentially global, and is therefore as visible in the national culture of countries like Pakistan as much as any in OECD. Pakistan Studies is a form of cultural and intellectual dialogue between the West and Pakistan. This dialogue when it began was bilateral. In the age of globalization it has been subsumed into the larger global dialogue. What are the implications of this change?

Disciplines Anthropology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments Pakistan Studies News is the official newsletter of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies. This text was adapted from a talk given at the inaugural reception of the new AIPS Islamabad Center on January 4, 2001.

This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/anthro_papers/69 PSN Pakistan Studies News Newsletter of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies AIPS Newsletter of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies

Summer 2001 Volume III Issue 2 New Series No. 6 PAKISTAN STUDIES IN AIPS News THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION

In the last issue I reported [This text is adapted from a talk given at the Pakistan’s in particular, this upheaval was on the opening of the new inaugural reception of the new AIPS Islamabad catastrophic.) It was established with a AIPS Islamabad Center. Center on January 4, 2001. A longer version political system that was alien to its pre- The longest item in this is- is being prepared for electronic publication. colonial heritage. And it was founded to sue is a write up of my ad- Please send comments to the author at serve the needs of a community that was dress at the inaugural re- [email protected].] defined in terms of religious affiliation. ception. It is designed as Pakistan’s history so far is the story of the an optimistic contribution working out of the tensions that were in- to the debate on the nature On behalf of all our member institutions herent in these conditions of its foundation. of our field and how it is and others who support the American In- changing. Please join in. stitute of Pakistan Studies and its pro- We might have expected that Pakistan We would be happy to print grams--welcome to the new AIPS Islama- would therefore be a popular subject your letters on this or other bad Center! among specialists in the comparative study of new states, and from a wide range of topics in a future issue. The opening of this Center is an impor- disciplinary points of view. Paradoxically, Since the reception in tant milestone in the history of the dia- however, Pakistan Studies has been a small January the Director, logue between American and Pakistani and isolated academic field, slow to de- Nadeem , and his scholars in both the humanities and the velop, and pursued in ways that have over- staff have worked hard to social sciences. It is also a landmark in the lapped little with larger interests in mod- complete the furnishing of history of the Institute, which was founded ern history and social science. It is my fer- the Center. Apart from in order to promote that dialogue. The vent hope that the opening of this Center, necessities such as aircon- Institute was founded in 1973, very close to itself overdue, will help to open up the ditioning, two computers the date of the launching of Pakistan Stud- academic dialogue, and by extension the with internet connections ies in Pakistan in the founding of the Na- public dialogue, on Pakistan to the greater have been installed for the tional Institute of Pakistan Studies on the participation and disciplinary range which use of fellows and other Quaid-i-Azam campus in Islamabad. it deserves. Now, especially, compared to academic visitors. The The dialogue has focused primarily on 1973 (let alone 1947) the time is ripe for bookshelves are beginning the political and social new academic initiatives. Pakistan has to fill up. The space is al- and its role in regional and international evolved as an academic subject. The for- ready being well used. affairs. Pakistan holds unique interest in mulation and organization of Pakistan There has been a steady this regard: it was the first new country to Studies, as an academic field, have devel- increase in the number of be formed in the modern world—the post- oped in new directions. The omens are local and foreign visitors colonial and post World War II world. It is good. Let me explain why. using the Center both for interesting to compare the experience of informal meetings and Over the past decade it has gradually be- private study. Visitors so Pakistan with the other new countries that come apparent that we are living in an age were established in the following thirty far have included Dr. Elena that is characterized by globalization. Bashir (AIPS Trustee for U. years or so. Like most of them, the new There is no single accepted definition of state was established by peaceful agree- Chicago), Professor Carl this process, although the word has been in Ernst (AIPS Executive Com- ment between representative local and our vocabulary for forty years. Our initial foreign interests, but caused upheaval in mittee member), Dr. Wilma the local population. (In some cases, and Cont’ on page 2 Cont’ on page 7

Pakistan Studies in the Age Of Globalization cont’ from page 1 efforts to make sense of it have tion Pakistan Studies has been hin- Funding agencies and academic pro- understandably focused so far on dered in its development by a number grams (influenced by the already existing economic and political conse- of difficulties. The focused interdisci- framework of foreign policy) easily clas- quences. These are the most con- plinary study of particular other parts sified and compartmentalized the world spicuous, but the long-term sig- of the modern world developed origi- into regions that were each assumed to nificance is deeper and more com- nally out of classical studies in the have a sufficient degree of internal cul- prehensive. Globalization has Western curriculum. It has been char- tural homogeneity to be treated as a unit been building for several decades, acterized as Orientalism—a term for purposes of curriculum development and may have been inevitable. It whose meaning was transformed over- and research. This plural field of area is already palpable in relatively night in 1978 (for better or for worse) studies was built on the textual or classi- conservative sectors of our lives, by Edward Said’s publication of the cal study of the civilizations of the Mid- such as the academic curriculum, same name. This type of academic dle East, , and the Far East. and our formulation of research endeavor had a philological or textual However, despite the shared cultural problems. It affects the year-to- base and did not begin to grow out of heritage (which could after all be found year planning of institutions like that tradition until well into the 19th between almost any two neighboring AIPS, because of changes in the century. By then the excitement of countries) recent historical experience priorities of funding agencies, as geographical discovery and the race to often made it very difficult to combine well as individual academic ca- bring the whole world into the pur- their modern study. Scholars tend to reers. Unlike other types of social view of knowledge, tempered by the identify with the people they study and and cultural change over the past exigencies of the colonialism, led to commonly pick up local prejudices generation, globalization (as the systematic efforts to describe and against neighboring countries. So, in term itself implies) is essentially document local conditions and render East Asia Chinese Studies and Japanese global, and is therefore as visible them intelligible. Studies have often proved difficult to manage within a single program, and the in the national culture of countries Universities were slow to legitimize like Pakistan as much as any in struggle between them for resources has these new studies. Although positions OECD. Pakistan Studies is a form left Korean Studies in the cold. For simi- in anthropology began to be estab- lar reasons it is not surprising that South of cultural and intellectual dia- lished in the 1880s, the subject (unlike logue between the West and Paki- Asian Studies programs have generally its sister social sciences) was still un- stan. This dialogue when it began been focused on to the disadvan- derstood largely in terms of the study tage, if not the exclusion, of Pakistan. was bilateral. In the age of global- of origins and not applied to literate ization it has been subsumed into (The other large South Asian country, societies. It was not until shortly be- the larger global dialogue. What , receives even less attention, fore World War II that explicitly mod- and Nepal and , because of are the implications of this ern studies of non-Western literate their much smaller size, are rarely change? societies began to be established. It planned into any program.) was to take another twenty years be- This situation has been exacerbated Institutional Development fore these programs took off under the heading of “.” since the 1960s by more bureaucratic As a field of academic specializa- considerations. Because of the obvious

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PAKISTAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER NUMBER 6 Page 2

Pakistan Studies in the Age Of Globalization cont’ from page 2 link between research visas, re- also disadvantages. Each of these decade. Now it is taken for granted that search permission and country-to- country-oriented communities tended the movement of scholars between, say, country diplomatic relations, as the to be insulated from what was going the U.S. and Pakistan should be two-way, numbers of overseas projects grew on in neighboring countries. In the and foreign scholars should where feasi- in the 1960s organizations began to case of India this was intellectually ble work through local institutions and be formed for the purpose of inter- unfortunate. In the case of Pakistan participate in local scholarly communi- acting with particular governments the problems were more serious: the ties, if not actually conduct their research in relation to the needs of scholars scholarly community that developed collaboratively. However, we have not in particular countries. While the out of the study of Pakistan lacked yet arrived at the point where American U.S. and the U.K have been most critical mass. The situation was of Studies is so well established in Pakistan active in the creation of these cen- course even more serious for smaller as Pakistan Studies in America, so that ters, France, Italy, Germany and countries like Sri Lanka or Yemen. the results of each could be discussed and Japan have pursued similar strate- Although Pakistan studies as a field negotiated reciprocally and trans- gies. The American School of Clas- of study in the U.S. initially benefited culturally among specialists. However, sical Research was established in greatly from the foundation of AIPS in with the advance of globalization such a Athens in 1881, the American 1973, for a while it suffered from the dialogue begins to seem closer. Academy in Rome in 1894, and the segregation built into the system that American School of Oriental Re- isolated it from what was going on in Individual Careers search in Jerusalem in 1900—all, in neighboring countries. There are accordance with the interests of the many examples of work produced in So much for the institutional dimension time, concerned primarily with Indian Studies that are often read by of this process. Although institutions archaeological excavation. A new people with no special interest in In- have their own momentum, they do not series of such centers began to ap- dia, with the result that India has be- exist without the individuals that work pear after WWII, starting with the come better known internationally. them. Individuals are influenced by con- American Research Center in But work of comparable quality in siderations of their own careers. It would in 1948. The speed picked Pakistan Studies has only in very rare be interesting to document the begin- up a decade or so later with the cases made it to a larger readership nings of the scholarly careers of Pakistan- American Institute of Indian Stud- (Barth’s Political Leadership among ists over the past generation to see what ies in 1960, the American Research the Swat Pathans, 1959, comes to brought them into the field. I would ex- Institute in Turkey in 1964, the mind). Pakistan has therefore become pect to find that most opted to specialize American Institute of Iranian Stud- less well known and suffered more in Pakistan out of an initial larger focus ies in 1967, and the American Insti- adverse stereotyping by the same on South Asia. There are a few who tute of Pakistan Studies in 1973, mechanism. Although the literature chose Pakistan out of a larger interest in followed by similar organizations on Pakistan and related topics (such as . I would expect that entries into for Yemen, Tunisia, Cyprus, Bang- the same territory in earlier periods, or the field of Pakistan Studies will now ladesh, Sri Lanka and West Africa. South Asian in general) that become more diverse. To begin with each of these organi- has accumulated over the past fifty Let me offer my own story as an exam- zations focused on services for years is rich and detailed, it is deficient ple. I moved first from classical to mod- scholars from the home country in in one major respect. It does not ade- ern studies, then from languages to social the host country, and although the quately relate Pakistan to a larger con- science, and from the Middle East to a services were generally available text, or to other fields. specialization in one country, . Later, for all disciplines funding opportu- now nearly twenty years ago, my linguis- nities tended to favor the social Starting in the 1970s political horizons tic background led me to define my area sciences. A significant advantage began to open up and academic rela- of interest in terms of the history of liter- was that people from different dis- tions became more interactive. The acy in the , and the heri- ciplines had opportunities to meet change was slow at first. But by the tage of that history in modern vernacular in the host country and were more time of the formal demise of the Soviet cultures. Persian was the language of likely to become familiar with the Union in 1989 international relations administration, belles lettres and elite full range of current research that were being reconfigured, and we were communication—the koine—at various might be relevant to their own. As working with very different implicit times over the past millennium as far east a result inter-disciplinary country- understandings of what is involved in as the cities of the Takla Makan basin of oriented scholarly communities overseas research. These understand- Xinjiang, as far west as the Balkans, and began to appear. But there were ings have become explicit over the past Cont’ on page 4

PAKISTAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER NUMBER 6 Page 3

from the cities of to the southern fringes of the Mughal Em- pire in peninsular India. The center Pakistan studies in of this vast are is Pakistan. It is for that reason that building on a periph- cause in 1947 the colonial aspects of community, its political history has eral acquaintance beginning as far Pakistan’s heritage were more influen- tested that founding definition. Like back as 1963 I moved in the mid tial than the pre-colonial factors. Israel its territorial definition led inevi- tably to one of the world’s major popu- 1980s to Pakistan as a central re- This distinction between pre- and lation movements, and the immigrant search focus. Let me then now sum- post-colonial is important. The more marize what seem to me from this limited colonial context and the associ- population has constituted a major perspective to be the significant fac- ated political interests led to the substi- force in its political history. The com- parison with Israel soon becomes dys- tors in Pakistan’s current geo- tution of for Persian for official functional because Israel’s founding historical situation. business as early as 1837. Persian as a result receded into the cultural back- definition unlike Pakistan’s was overtly ethnic. But Pakistan’s political ground, with a role similar to that of Regional and Global History weakness arises from the founding Latin in the Christian West. Finally Pakistan emerged in 1947 not as a within two decades of independence assumption that South Asian Muslims were in some way comparable to a homeland for South Asian Muslims. (like Greek and Latin in the West at the nation, and that Pakistan therefore But undivided India before that date same time) it finally lost any special would be for them the nation-state had been nested in a large complex status in the school curriculum. Nev- of historical networks, and Pakistan ertheless, its presence in the modern they were entitled to. This assumption arose from the colonial heritage— like India inherited all of them. But languages of the region (as is the case nation is a Western political idea for various reasons since 1947 some of course with Latin and Greek in of them were emphasized at the ex- modern Western languages) is still (though since the end of colonialism largely assumed to be universally pense of others, and as a conse- palpable. But since it is the national valid). In Pakistan’s non-colonial heri- quence of international develop- language of Iran, for political reasons ments some were lost. its cultural importance in the other tage nation-state resembles an oxymo- ron: nation is not an Islamic concept. Pakistan represented the territorial countries of the region is suppressed. Whereas Israel cannot remove the eth- center of the successor states of the Moreover, the international preten- nic factor from its founding definition , which at its zenith sions of the larger state, Iran, compro- without fundamentally changing its reached from the Central Asian mise its status even in the two other nature, Pakistan does not need to de- steppe to southern peninsular India. countries where it serves as national or fine itself as a nation. It was founded But more significant than this poli- , and Ta- in an era when being a nation was the tico-historical context was the cul- jikistan, and even more so in other only justification for having a state. tural context of Persian literacy. And countries such as where it This subconscious Western-cultural the demesne of the Persian koine was is an important minority language. political philosophy has led to the of course nested in the larger uni- global emergence in the second half of verse of Islamic- cultural liter- the 20th century of “minority politics.” acy, which extends to the Philippines The Problem of Nationhood As a result national identities now and to Morocco, as well as south into Nations are set on a course of devel- compete with the other types of iden- Africa. Literacy constitutes a frame- opment in their founding moments: tity. work of cultural organization. It pro- the U.S. by the American Revolution, vides a medium for the flow of ideas. France by the French Revolution; since Although the literacy rate was his- 1989 Russia has been groping for its Pakistan as a Model torically much lower even that it is pre-Soviet roots in the Orthodox now, literacy created a professional Church. England has recently been If we can consider the Islamic context and social class that was represented through a comparable though less se- alone, suppressing for a moment the in all the cities of a vast culturally vere period of cultural uncertainty customary expectations of “national” diverse region. Documents circu- following the dissolution of the empire development, Pakistan’s political and lated within this region. The region which had been so important in the other socio-cultural problems take on a owed its character to the use of Is- formation of its modern identity. Paki- different color. No longer a problem- lamic law and to Muslim govern- stan’s founding moment defined it in atic nation, Pakistan comes into focus ments, although it was differentiated Islamic terms, but in relation to India as an exemplar of the post-, by political interests. It included rather than more general historical a political unit with boundaries based both Shi`a and Sunni. This geo- relationships. Although (like Israel a (like most others) on a variety of his- historical context of Pakistan’s loca- year later, in1948) it was founded as a torical rationalizations, containing di- tion has received little attention, be- secular state for a particular religious verse culturally related ethno- linguistic communities--a model for

PAKISTAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER NUMBER 6 Page 4

Although it has not received very much attention in the literature on AGE OF GLOBALIZATION power that has developed over the past twenty years, distance is a pri- the modern world. Baluch, Muhajirs, simply the spread of commodities and mary factor in any situation of un- , Pushtuns, and others ideas and ways of doing things. Global- equal power. This is as true in small are even less likely to merge their identi- ization is the effect of something that is tribal societies as it was in the colo- ties than are English, Scots, Welsh and newer than that, although it has been nial period and later during the Cold the various recent immigrants to the building gradually since the Industrial War. The ability to escape negates United Kingdom. But Pakistan is as im- Revolution. any power differential. Terrorism portant and useful a political idea for the was one of the earliest indicators of Globalization is the receding of the dis- former as British is for the latter. If the globalization, because it strikes not tance factor from relations. This comparison with the U.K. smacks of only anonymously but in unpredict- process is the result of technology. Tele- able locations. It will probably con- post-colonialism, America with the di- phone, wireless and air travel foreshad- versity generated by its large recent im- tinue to be one of globalization’s owed it. But only in the past decade, migrant communities provides a compa- most important negative conse- with the accelerated progress of digitiza- quences. Resistance of some kind, rable example. It is not difficult to find tion in wireless telephony and the inter- other examples in different parts of the like suffering, is a component of all net, has it approached consummation. world. Although their particular politi- processes of evolutionary change. cal histories and current problems may The significance of globalization for The interconnectedness of situations be so different as to be barely compara- Pakistan, and by extension Pakistan in Bosnia, Chechnya, , Tajiki- ble, they typify in different degrees the Studies—for individual states, the aca- stan, Hezbollah, Hamas,and among local political problems of the modern demic activities that relate to them and the Taliban, and the Uyghurs, and so world. Further, just as Pakistan was the the scholarly careers they generate—is on illustrates the globalization of first new postcolonial state in the Eastern that the space or distance dimension no resistance. On the other hand, re- Hemisphere, it is further advanced in the longer either defines or even hierarchizes cently the rule of law has been ex- experience of dealing with these prob- their identities, their opportunities and tended beyond national boundaries lems than those that have followed it their relationships in anything like the and the limitation of national legal from foundation points in the 50s, 60s, degree to which we are accustomed. systems. First Pinochet, then the World Trade Building in New York, and 70s. Pakistan is a model. We always knew that American society then Khobar, now Milosevic have all was not spatially delimited by the geo- become examples of the incipient graphical boundaries of the United The Promise of Globalization globalization of the rule of law. States. But when we study Pakistan we In the course of Pakistan’s brief history assume that it is all inside the boundaries In 2001 Pakistan Studies is not the the constellation of international rela- of Pakistani territory. The artificiality of same endeavor that it was when the tions has undergone a major transforma- this restricted definition is fast becoming American Institute of Pakistan Stud- tion. At the same time the outlook for too obvious for it to be tenable. It is no ies and the National Institute of Paki- the individual scholar interested in the longer feasible to separate diasporas stan Studies were founded over a Pakistani situation has also changed, as from communities of origin. Cultures quarter of a century ago. The home has the field of Pakistan Studies and the and societies can no longer be conceived curriculum has changed, the aca- way that this type of academic field is as bounded. Even totalitarian govern- demic project has changed, Pakistan- conceived. These changes have all be- ments are obliged to negotiate with their ists have different objectives, Paki- come recognized over the past decade, citizenry. Political movements, like com- stan’s image in the world and its sig- which is the decade in which the dis- mercial projects, can no longer be spa- nificance in international relations course of globalization has emerged. tially confined, whether positive like de- has changed. Most importantly the nature of the trans-cultural dialogue The Oxford English Dictionary cites mocracy or dotcoms, or negative like between Pakistani and non-Pakistani word “globalization” as appearing first terrorism or drug dealing. scholars on Pakistan as a subject in in 1961. If the phenomenon that we now The nature of globalization is best illus- world history is being recontextual- recognize as such is in fact qualitatively trated by examples of change in relation- ized. I look forward to a period of different from the (almost) global spread ships of power. The most significant close collaboration between our two of , Christianity, and Islam at point of the loss of the distance factor is institutes in association with the earlier periods, or the expansion of trade that it equalizes. Globalization is not Council on Social Sciences in which I networks, empires, war arenas more re- Americanization. Nor is it cultural ho- hope this Center will play an impor- cently, I do not think it can be said to mogenization. It simply negates as a tant role. have become tangible until late in the factor of social differentiation, the dis- past century. It is not just the “global tance factor. Brian Spooner village” that constructs globalization, not PAKISTAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER NUMBER 6 Page 5