“Yes, I am Joseph Bhatti Choohra
” Reading Joseph Bhatti as a Palimpsest
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22064541 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mushtaq Bilal (0000-0002-6705-9176), Mushtaq ur Rasool Bilal (New York Times, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Publication date | 2022-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Angles (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2274-2042 • E-ISSN: 2274-2042 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/angles.5259 |
| OpenAlex | W4281726210 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 11 |
This paper explores how Mohammed Hanif’s 2011 novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti challenges the construct of “Pak-ness” (purity), which is at the heart of the idea of Pakistan and Pakistani national identity. I argue that Joseph Bhatti, the father of the eponymous protagonist Alice Bhatti, is an intricate palimpsest of various historical, political, social, and cultural transformations in India (the Aryan invasion, the inauguration of the Varna system, the Muslim conquests of India, the British colonization of India, and the Partition), but more importantly this character brings to the fore the one constant throughout these monumental transformations – the impurity and Untouchability ascribed to the Chuhra people. In addition, the paper shows how the word “Pakistan” too becomes a palimpsest of various cultural archives, semantic reserves, and political transformations: the word “Pakistan” is acronymized in English, made semantically operative through Persian/Urdu to conflate the Pakistani Muslim identity with the notion of purity, which happens to be of Brahman origin
Ancient history · Art · Art history · Literature · Palimpsest · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Urdu · Gender Studies · History · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · South Asian Studies and Diaspora
| Highly cited | No |
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