Pearls of Wisdom from Imam Ali

On this felicitous occasion of the birth anniversary of Imam Ali, I copy below some of his profound sayings that were quoted in the 2002 Arab Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). As the title suggests, this report is an account of the current social, political, and economic conditions (including [...]

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Orientalism, Then and Now

In my previous post, I argued that a critical engagement with the western cultural and academic discourse is necessary to counter their cultural hegemony. It is imperative for any such effort that we understand how knowledge is linked to power and what has been its various manifestations in the past and the present.
Perhaps the heuristic [...]

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On Maps and Wests

In an earlier post, I commented on western cultural hegemony and its various forms (here). I argued that cultural hegemony is perhaps the most subtle form of dominance because it acts in the knowledge-sphere.
That is, it acts in the sphere of our minds, on our understanding, knowledge, and values, the way we look at the [...]

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In Praise of Resistance Against All Injustice

In memory of all victims of injustice. Injustice in the form of physical violence, as in wars, genocides, state-terrorism, and terrorism in general that target innocent people . Their crime? Either they belonged to a marginalized group or they dared to speak truth to power and resist injustice.
Injustice in the form of honor killing, gang [...]

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Let’s Weave A Dream

A friend, very disappointed with the current state of affairs in Pakistan, expressed his feelings with this couplet from Ghalib:

hairaan hun dil ko ro’un ke pitun jigar ko main,
maqdur ho agar to sath rakhun nauhagar ko main

The situation is indeed quite depressing for any person with a conscious head on his shoulders and a [...]

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