Face-to-face with the (animal) Other: An invitation to decolonize the anthropology of Pakistan

Muhammad A. Kavesh*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The imperial underpinning of the early anthropology of Pakistan constituted “the other” as a subject of comprehension, categorization, and containment. Later, with the post-9/11 geopolitical backdrop, anthropologists focused on selected themes such as religious and ethnic disparity and political nationalism, eliding some topics or groups. What would it mean for the anthropology of Pakistan to consider alienated themes and groups while emphasizing the infinity of the Other? How would conceiving the Other beyond a political or religious other, or even beyond a human subject, create a possibility of decolonizing the anthropology of Pakistan while exploring multiple futures—emergent, imagined, and expected? Such an approach critically moots a reexamination of theoretical, methodological, and epistemological tenets and urges the discipline to engage with diverse lifeworlds. It brings the face of the Other face-to-face with anthropology beyond humanity to consider all beings, intersubjective and collaborative experiences, and shared values.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)409-418
    Number of pages10
    JournalAmerican Ethnologist
    Volume50
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Aug 2023

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