Socio-Cultural Analysis of Moral Ethics Syllabi at Under-Graduate Level to Manage the Blasphemy Issue in Pakistan

In the context of blasphemy issue, the present study examines the socio-cultural elements in the Moral Ethics syllabi functional at the different universities of Pakistan. As per our hypothesis, ME syllabi lack some important socio-cultural elements responsible for handling hate crimes, especially the issue of blasphemy. For testing the proposed hypothesis, available ME syllabi were collected from the official websites of different universities. Collected ME syllabi were examined through the method of content analysis. After examining literature review, necessary socio-cultural factors (SCFs) were listed and the selected syllabi were evaluated through this list of SCFs. Our study findings endorse the primary hypothesis that majority of universities has adopted the foreign model of ME syllabi without adapting them according to indigenous social and cultural needs. Additionally, the most important SCFs; knowledge of blasphemy laws (KBL) and real-life dilemmas (RLD), are mostly absent in the existing ME syllabi.

Men As Victims of Violence in Partition Fiction

Partition of United Indiain the year 1947 was a phenomenal even to fideological proportion. More than any thing else,it was also a human tragedy resulting in the loss of millions of lives. As people migrated across the newly carved borders,an un precedented wave of ethnic violence destroyed their hopes offinding newer homes. The enormity of the impact of violence on the collectivesocial consciousness of the subcontinent was so much that a whole body of literature emanated which can betermedas“Partition Literature”.Fictional appropriationoftheincidenceofviolencehasbeenarecurrentmotifinnovelsandshort fiction. By that very fact,literary fiction based on partition,acts as one of the greatest reservoirs of the stories of violent events during partition. One of the great estpre occupation of Partition fiction is its engagement withthefigurationofvariedsituationsandcharactersas comingtotermswiththepsychologicalandideologicalrepercussionsofthegreatdivide. It is notsurprising,therefore,thatthefictional representationoftheviolenceproducedduring partitionsuchasmassmurder,arson,rape,mutilationofbodies,andotherviolentactsacross theborder,arecodifiedbygenderedreadings. However,whenitcomestomeasurethe magnitudeandenormityofloss,womenareconsideredtheworstvictimsoftheevent of partition.Inthisregard,thereadingsofpartitionliteraryfictionviewmenexclusivelyasthe activeexecutorsofviolentactsandwomenonlyasthepassivevictims.Inthisdissertation,I arguethattherepresentationofmenasvictimsofviolenceinPartitionfictionhasbeengiven acursoryandperipheral attention.Correspondingly, thisresearchattemptstoreadmenas victimsofviolenceasdepictedinpartitionfiction. Theintroductorychapterofthisresearchpresentsagenealogyofdifferentparadigms ofindigenousmasculinities. ChapterTwocoverstheemergingtheoreticaldebatesinWestern discourseonmasculinityanditsenrichingvalence forlocal andIndianmythology.Therefore, Icontextualizeadiscursiverangeofpatriarchal,mythical,andreligiousidealsinjectedinto theconsciousnessofmen.InChapterThree,Iarguethatmenbecomevictimsofviolence whentheyfeelboundtoanormativesetofmasculineidealsandpractice.Afailuretosuch performativeassignmentsmayleadtowardsthedisqualificationoftheirgenderedpotentials baggingforthemtitlessuchasunmanlyandemasculated.Theycannotescapethe consequencesofoptingoutpatriarchal idealswhichironicallylimittheirlives.Movingfurther inChapterFour,Ideconstructthemythofmalepowerupheldbythepatriarchal representationsoftheIndiansubcontinent;butinrealitydeflatedwithapersistentcolonial Syedaiii presence. ThecolonialreformulationoftheIndianidealsofmasculinitydis-empoweredthe Indianmen. Ascorollarytocolonial redefinitionofnativemaleinChapterFive,Iarguethat duringpartitionthemalebodyalsobecameasiteforsocio-political politics. Henceforth,in ChapterSix,Iconcludethatmenexperiencedtheemotionalandpsychological agonyand distressastheywere displacedduringthetumultuouseventsof1947. Inthisresearch,Ihaveemployed conceptsfromMasculinityStudiesandPostFeminismfortheoreticalanchorage.ThetextsincludenovelsentitledWhattheBody RemembersbyShaunaSingh,TamasbyBhishamSahni,TraintoPakistan,andDelhiby KhushwantSingh,CrackingIndiabyBapsiSidhwa,TheBrokenMirrorbyKrishnaBaldev Vaid,andSleepwalkersbyJoginderPaul.TheworksoftheMasculinists,R.W.Connell,John Beynon,WarrenFarrell,supportedbyJudithButler’sconceptoffluidgender,re-signification, andbodyasasite,endorsedbyFreudandLacan’sconcept offearofcastration,andfinally reinforcedbythetraumatheoriesbyJudithHerman,CathyCaruth,andNandiBhatia,helpthe analysisofdifferent formsofmalevictimization. Therefore,theresearchconcludesthatpartition(literary) fictionshowstheproblematic representationofmen’svictimizationwhichisseldom readforthefearofunveilingthe historical,political,andtheoreticaldiscoursesstrengtheninggenderstereotyping.Byputting anemphasisupontheshallownessoftheconceptofviolentnormativebehaviorinmenanda customarycodeofpatriarchal life,thisresearchexaminesthewaysinwhichthesemen struggletobeabletofulfilltheexpectationsofthesociety.Furthermore,theenforcedmodeof behaviouremasculatestheiridentityasamalegendertherebymakingthemasliableto violenceasanyothergender; afact alsooftenexternalizedbytheirbodiesturningintositesof violence.