Politics of Resistance in Pakistan through Progressive Poetry: A Neo-Gramscian Study

Abstract

The article focuses on locating the politics of resistance in Pakistan through cultural and historical experiences which are materialized through progressive stance of poets especially Faiz (1971) and Jalib (2012). The basic theoretical standpoint of present research paper is Neo-Gramscian in nature. Politics of resistance in poetry is discussed with particular reference to authoritarian rule the Progressivists resisted against. Progressivists highlight the formation of a particular hegemonic process and resistance to it through Progressive poetry. The purpose is to bring to light certain debates by looking into the politics of resistance as counter-hegemony. Politics of resistance becomes a victim of intellectual and political hegemony created through state institutions. The methodology is new-historicist in nature which reinforces that culture and history are material realities. New Historicism evaluates literature through the social and cultural events and also the ways how these socio-cultural events help to build a larger event in creating possibilities for the making of hegemony. It aims at understanding intellectual history through literature and literature through the cultural context surrounding the historical event. The function of new-historicist is to bring home the facts which question the dominant historical functioning of text and bring to light the hidden and untold facts and stories. The basic point of departure of Neo-Gramscian study is to define the premises through which this political and intellectual stance of national politics is largely the part of Bourgeois political and intellectual framework through Progressive counter-hegemonic resistance.