Eminent scholar of the Left in Pakistan, Kamran Asdar Ali comes back on The Pakistan Experience to discuss his new book on the Peoples Histories of Pakistan, on this deep dive podcast we discuss the Left in Pakistan, Two Nation Theory, Muslim Nationalism, Hindutva, Historical Revisionism, Communist Party of India, Hasan Nasir, Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and more.

Kamran Asdar Ali is professor of anthropology, Middle East Studies and Asian Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Communism in Pakistan: Politics and Class Activism 1947-1972 (IB Tauris, 2015) and Planning the Family in Egypt: New Bodies, New Selves (UT Press, 2002). He is the co-editor of Gendering Urban Space in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa (Palgrave 2008) and Comparing Cities: Middle East and South Asia, both with Martina Rieker, with whom he also coordinates the Shehr Network on Comparative Urban Landscapes. He has published several articles on issues of health and gender in Egypt and on Pakistani politics and popular culture. He previously taught at the University of Rochester (1995-2001) and was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1998-99). His more recent work has been on ethnic, class and gender issues in Pakistan.

The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations.

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The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications.

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Chapters

0:00 Introduction

1:30 People’s Histories of Pakistan

11:30 Two nation theory, Muslim Nationalism and Historical Revisionism

18:46 Myth making and Multiple Nationalisms

25:53 People telling their own Story and Essays in the Anthology

43:00 Communist Party of Pakistan and Communist Party of India, Unions and Resistance

52:00 Pakistan-Russia Relations

54:56 Industrialist and Establishment Nexus

1:07:20 The Left and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

1:12:00 Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case and Shrinking Space for the Left

1:24:30 Hasan Nasir

1:33:45 Audience Questions