When Comes such Another? Asma Jahangir 1952 –2018

On the 11th of February this year death vanquished Pakistan’s Asma Jahangir: Nothing else could. Her name will endure; yet one cannot go on to say “death thou art dead” for the vacuum in the field where this indomitable and intellectually gifted lawyer fought and won her battles for the forgotten and ignored, the resource-less, and – above all – for the politically and socially persecuted is felt more gravely with each passing day: Asma Jahangir was a convinced human rights activist. There are many such, but she was a uniquely effective and successful one.

Subscription or Subversion: Gender Representation in Pakistani Television Commercials

The current interdisciplinary research falls into the domains of semiotics, linguistics and cultural studies. Television commercials, having the power to (re)frame the ideology of larger audience through its visual/linguistic content and agency to pave the way to social change have become one of the most viable social institutions of disseminating information to a wider audience. In any of its forms, media construct the image of men and women differently associating with them specific traits regarding their activities, roles and position. The commercials are considered persuasive and efficient modes of representation, having strong impact on the social perception of the viewers. The current study aims to investigate the representation of gender-binary relations in the Pakistani television commercials. The study also imbues the broader socio-cultural factors which help to identify the representational and positional value of men and women. The study analyzes whether gender representation in the Pakistani television commercials subscribes to or subverts the traditional gender narratives. The researcher finds a gap in the area of research, as most of the studies have been produced on gender equality and representation in the Euro-American sphere and a few in Pakistani context, but there is a wide scope of research on gender representation with semiotic perspective. The current study draws its theoretical foundation on the theory of semiotics propounded by Dyer (1982) in her book Advertising as Communication. Semiotics is conceived as an appropriate tool for the critical inquiry of the television commercials because of its widely ranging acceptability and reliability in the meaning making process as suggested by Williamson (1978), Dyer (1982) and Jhally (1990). The data for the current study comprises television commercials broadcast on famous Pakistani television channels. The sampling technique is based on non-probability purposive sampling with the rationale of choosing this technique to include only those commercials which largely reflect gender representation. The study finds that the commercials present layers of meanings via semiotic modes at symbolic level where men and women are displayed in stereotypical manner, subscribing to patriarchal structures. The study recommends the change in the content of the televised material and also highlights the unexplored avenues which can be brought under considerations by the future researchers.