Meaning of 9/11 for two Pakistani communities: from external intruders to the internalisation of a negative self-image

Abstract

Since September 11, the increase in international tensions and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have created turmoil and fears in immigrant communities, fanned by the media in the context of the war against terrorism. This paper aims to compare the meaning systems evoked around 9/11 within two Pakistani groups–an immigrant community in Montreal and a group in Karachi. It also intends to examine the representation of themselves and of the ‘Other’ within these two groups. Results suggest that both Karachi and Montreal Pakistani respondents favour a conspiracy scenario which protects the Muslim community from the responsibility of 9/11 events. They refer to an argumentation process based on ‘proofs’, thus mirroring the political rhetoric used by the US government and its allies to justify the military intervention in Iraq. In the Montreal group, the pervasive feeling of fear and the bleak image that the community has of itself support the hypothesis of an immigrant internalisation of the negative representations of Muslim and South Asian identities in the North American context. The negative self-image observed in these minority groups indicates that more effort than ever should be dedicated to understanding the impact of the present international context on minority-majority relations in multi-ethnic societies. It is as if America is sitting right here in the living room with us … We have to ask them permission to breathe. (Parveen, Karachi)