Review Essay: Islam in Pakistan

Abstract

Two distinctive discursive traditions define Pakistan Studies in the United States over the last few decades. They often intertwine, individual scholars pass through each tradition and they are inter-referenced; yet they remain fundamentally divergent. One discourse is inherently state-centric, framing Pakistan in relationship to the shifting terrain of U.S. interests in South and Southwest Asia. The second discourse is scholarly, engaging Pakistan as a field of study defined by trending social theories and academic debates. Both books under review situate themselves in relation to these two discourses, but ultimately are grounded within a particular tradition. In Beyond Crisis Khan offers a rich collection of independently authored chapters grappling with an array of scholarly debates, adding richly to the place of Pakistan Studies in American academia. Samad’s The Pakistan-US Conundrum provides a critical intervention in unraveling the murky history of US-Pakistan relations contributing a much needed corrective to the state-centric perspectives that are too often filtered through the myopic lens of US national interests. Samad attempts to bridge the discursive divide by critically exposing the ‘cultural racism’ (p. 4) inherent in the state-centric representations of Pakistan, grounding his criticism in theoretical perspectives. The power of the state-centric discourse is most clearly manifested in the titles of the two books. The title Beyond Crisis: Re-Evaluating Pakistan is scripted from the political science-driven, journalistically-informed concern for the precarious nature of the Pakistani state. The introduction quickly dispels any apprehensions over potential Cont Islam (2014) 8:339–343 DOI 10.1007/s11562-013-0241-3