Historiography of sexuality in post-colonial Pakistan (1950s-1990s): Sexual desire(s), erotic imaginary(s) and the politics of self in Urdu pulp fiction

Abstract

This research paper aims to go beyond the debate of how the legacy of colonialism impacted the postcolonial state/society in Pakistan, primarily related to the politics of gender. What I am interested in is looking at expressions of sexual desires, sexualities, and embodied gender selves in non-elite, non-state, non-hegemonic, popular literary productions of the late twentieth century in the Urdu language. Looking through these varied pieces of literature, I am arguing that despite the regulatory potential of the post-colonial state (Foucault’s biopolitics and governmentality), the ideas and practices related to sex, sexuality, and genders not only endured these onslaughts (censorship/control by the regulatory postcolonial state) but also successfully pervaded and consumed in the society.