Dispatches from Pakistan / Editors: Madiha R. Tahir; Qalandar Bux Memon; Vijay Prashad

Dispatches from Pakistan, in contrast, reveals the complexities, the challenges, and the joys of daily life in the country, from the poetry of Gilgit to the graffiti of Gwadar, from an army barrack in Punjab to the urban politics of Karachi. Contributors: Habib Jalib; Madiha R. Tahir; Zahra Malkani; Aasim Sajjad Akhtar; Saadia Toor; Maliha Safri; Ayesha Siddiqa; Junaid Rana; Amina Jamal; Humeira Iqtidar; Qalandar Bux Memon; Mahvish Ahmad; Hafeez Jamali; Sultan-i-Rome; Iqbal Khattak; Nosheen Ali; Shafqat Hussain; Hammad Nasar; Fehmida Riyaz. This timely book brings together journalists, activists, academics, and artists to provide a rich, in-depth, and intriguing portrait of contemporary Pakistani society. Straddling a variety of boundaries—geographic, linguistic, and narrative—Dispatches from Pakistan is a vital attempt to speak for the multitude of Pakistanis who, in the face of seemingly unimaginable hardships, from drone strikes to crushing poverty, remain defiantly optimistic about their future. While engaging in conversations on issues that make the headlines in the West, the contributors also introduce less familiar dimensions of Pakistani life, highlighting the voices of urban poets, rural laborers, industrial workers, and religious-feminist activists—and recovering Pakistani society’s inquilabi (revolutionary) undercurrents and its hopeful overtones.

English