Folkloristic Understandings of Nation-Building in Pakistan Ideas, Issues and Questions of Nation-Building in Pakistan Research Cooperation between the Hanns Seidel Foundation Pakistan and the Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad Islamabad, 2020 Folkloristic Understandings of Nation-Building in Pakistan Edited by Sarah Holz Ideas, Issues and Questions of Nation-Building in Pakistan Research Cooperation between Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad Office and Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan Acknowledgements Thank you to Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad Office for the generous and continued support for empirical research in Pakistan, in particular: Kristóf Duwaerts, Omer Ali, Sumaira Ihsan, Aisha Farzana and Ahsen Masood. This volume would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of a large number of people. Sara Gurchani, who worked as the research assistant of the collaboration in 2018 and 2019, provided invaluable administrative, organisational and editorial support for this endeavour. A big thank you the HSF grant holders of 2018 who were not only doing their own work but who were also actively engaged in the organisation of the international workshop and the lecture series: Ibrahim Ahmed, Fateh Ali, Babar Rahman and in particular Adil Pasha and Mohsinullah. Thank you to all the support staff who were working behind the scenes to ensure a smooth functioning of all events. A special thanks goes to Shafaq Shafique and Muhammad Latif sahib who handled most of the coordination. Thank you, Usman Shah for the copy editing. The research collaboration would not be possible without the work of the QAU faculty members in the year 2018, Dr. Saadia Abid, Dr. Aisha Anees Malik and Dr. Saadia Saeed. Lastly, thank you to all the scholars and practitioners who travelled to Islamabad from far and near to share their insights and experiences. Contents Introduction: Cultural Practices, Folklore and Nation-Building in Pakistan 1 Sarah Holz and Sara Gurchani Part I: Workshop Papers Folkloristic Construction of Gendered Identities: A Corpus-based Exploration 4 of 'Othering' in Heer Ranjha Farzana Masroor and Shazia Riaz Dar Women in the folklore of Sindh: A Critical Appraisal in a Historical 22 Perspective Humera Naz Folklore, Ethnicity, Democracy and Nation-Building: The Primacy of the 33 Sindhi Mujtaba Ali Isani The Classical Bali Folksongs by Women: A Mirror of the Past and Present 48 Zakir Hussain Zakir Part II: Research Papers The Shandur Festival: States of Play in Northern Pakistan 59 Adil Farooq Pasha The Death of Benazir Bhutto: Anger, Defiance and Grief in Saraiki Poetry 82 Amish Hasan Askri Theatre and Nation-Building: An Ethnography of the Grass Root Theatre 96 Group Sangat in Punjab, Pakistan Ibrahim Ahmed Gender and Power Relationships in the Language of Pashto Folk Proverbs 113 Among Pashtun Society Mohsinullah and Saadia Abid 1 Introduction: Cultural Practices, Folklore and Nation-Building in Pakistan Dr. Sarah Holz and Sara Gurchani National Institute of Pakistan Studies Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan In post-colonial Pakistan a multitude of cultural practices and folklores – ranging from dress, theatre, music, poetry and qissas, architecture, the celebration of festivals and food to the telling of jokes – are expressions of particular identities and traditions and contribute to social, cultural, political and historical narratives. Folklores preserve identities and traditions but also function as representations of interests and aspirations and they can also challenge and critique the status quo. A systematic study of the dynamics that frame the performance and representation of cultural practices, as well as decisions about the preservation of cultural practices can provide valuable insights into micro- and macro-negotiations of national and individual identity. This means folklores can be used as an indicator for communal and national processes of change, reform, redefinition, reconstruction, rediscovery. The papers in this volume are an outcome of the research collaboration "Ideas, Issues and Questions of Nation-Building in Pakistan." Since 2012 Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad Office and the Departments of Anthropology, History and Sociology, the Centre for Excellence in Gender Studies and the National Institute of Pakistan Studies at Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad have worked together on different focal themes within this larger framework. An international workshop and a lecture series provide platforms for sustained discussions on issues pertaining to nation-building. The award of research grants to students seeks to support and promote empirical research in Pakistan. Apart from stable economic, social and political structures, culture and folklore are integral reference points for identity construction and individual, communal and national narratives. In a world that is increasingly in flow, heritage, a sense of belonging and the search for roots has become a central point of contention in many academic and public debates. Which cultural practices are central to national and individual identities? How are decisions made about what kind of cultural practices, artifacts and stories should be preserved, rehabilitated, reformed, reconstructed or even abandoned? How are cultural practices legitimised? Which factors and actors shape cultural practices? To explore the intricate links between folklore and national identity, social cohesion, norms and values, the HSF-QAU research collaboration selected the theme "Folkloristic Understandings of Nation-Building" in 2018. Throughout the year we focused on the performance, reception, transmission, preservation and representation of folklore that take place formally and informally and at various levels of state and society. 'The cultural realm' is often studied as a sphere that is separate from prevailing economic, social and political circumstances. A central point that emerged over the course of the year was that cultural practices and folklore should not be isolated from their contexts because they mirror historical and current worldviews and cultural practices and folklore also 2 function as structuring agents that influences prevailing notions of social cohesion and identity. Hence, a broader discussion, cutting across disciplines, contexts and time, needs to be initiated. Connected to this larger issue, three salient themes emerged from the research collaboration, which were outlined by the three keynote speakers of the international workshop that was organised in April 2018. First, folklore and cultural practices are indicators of changing conceptions of social cohesion. In his keynote address entitled "Preservation and City Planning that fits the Climate and Indigenous Architectural Styles – Comparative Perspectives from Egypt" Carsten Velguth (DAAD Professor of Integrated Urban Planning and Design, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt) showed that shifts in architectural styles and urban planning attest to shifts in perceptions of what society is or is supposed to be. For instance, the garden city movement, which informed the planning of Islamabad, envisioned cities to be separated into sections, each with a different function. Such kind of spatial segregation can then also impact how people perceive of society and social cohesion. Another point, Velguth highlighted was that pivotal historical events, such as wars or terrorist attacks but also inventions and scientific progress need to be included in debates about cultural heritage because they affect how individuals relate to each other and to society. The second point that emerged was that folklore and cultural practices provide insights into conceptions of the past. Prof. Dr. Leo Schmidt (Brandenburgische Technische Universität (BTU) Cottbus, Germany) in his keynote address "Destruction, Construction, Reconstruction: The Role of Heritage for National Identity" explained different approaches to heritage preservation and showed how decisions to destroy, construct or reconstruct buildings, memorials and other architectural structures are shaped by notions of ‘good taste,’ conceptions of originality and authenticity and perceptions of what ‘culture’ or ‘art’ of a certain region or nation should look like. Schmidt pointed out that heritage sites create a picture of the history and culture of a nation or its people, they thereby present a picture of the past that people of the present feel comfortable with. Therefore, policy decisions about heritage sites provide insights into national and official narratives of the values, history and culture of a town, region or country. Decisions to destruct, reconstruct or destroy are thus connected to past and present politics, but also emotions and aspirations. It is therefore important to think about the contexts, factors and motives, as well as the selection criteria that inform decisions regarding the preservation or destruction of heritage and cultural practices. This was also a point stressed by Dr. Feriyal Amal Aslam. In her keynote address "Choreographing Inclusivity in Pakistan: The Tree, the Dancer, and the City" she stressed the importance to recognise and analyse what and who is included in culture and folklore in Pakistan, and who or what is left behind. As an academic and trained in classical dance she contended that that corporal knowledge is an important, yet often neglected, dimension in Pakistani folklore because public dance performances, especially by female dancers, were mostly disallowed in the 1980s during the regime