Girls’ education in Balochistan, Pakistan: exploring a postcolonial Islamic governmentality

Abstract

This paper explores the status of girls’ education in the schools of rural Balochistan in Pakistan, and examines the dimensions of access, enrolment and retention. In order to explore the complexities of this governmental problem, we will propose the concept of postcolonial Islamic governmentality. Drawing on Foucault’s work on the arts of government, with Dean’s (2010) writing on illiberal governmentalities, and the work of Salehin (2016) on pious governmentality in Bangladesh, we will suggest that postcolonial Islamic governmentalities emerge at the intersections of the legacies of British colonialism in Pakistan’s post-colonial governance; the influence of processes of neo-liberal globalisation in the policies of developing countries by donor countries, development NGOs and the SDGs; and the forms of Islamic governance embedded in the juridical, cultural, social and gender relations of Pakistan as a postcolonial, Islamic state.