HIST 265 - Sacred and Secular in an Islamic Republic: Pakistan

FC SSCI CD WADV

4 credits
What is the relationship between Islam and secularism? From anticolonial struggles against British imperialism in India, Pakistan emerged in 1947 as a “Muslim homeland.” It has since witnessed military dictatorships, international armed conflicts, and a civil war. Its religious politics has also generated a series of paradoxes. Pakistan is today a republic with a state religion, it has blended capitalism with Islamist authoritarianism, and it has seen terrorism jostle against vibrant leftist politics. This course explores how Pakistanis have debated the sacred and the secular–religion and politics–from colonial times to the present, using textual, visual, and aural sources.