Politics, Power, and Colonialism: Post-Structuralist study of Manto’s “New Constitution”

Abstract

Manto possessed an acute political and socio-cultural awareness of his times. Colonialism, partition and freedom struggle have remained one of the main themes of his writing. The present research intends to conduct a post-structuralist study of the text with an aim of highlighting the ‘Binary Oppositions’ within the structure, along with the analysis of the Foucauldian (1976) notion of Power in the discourse of the “New Constitution”. For the current study, the translation of the “Naya Qanoon” done by Khalid Hassan has been consulted. The post-structuralist study of the text revealed the embedded binaries with respect to the notions of cultural identities, races, political notions and geographies. The findings highlighted the essentialist and logocentric attitude of discourses towards the positions of power, dominance, civilization and racism. Foucauldian (1976) interpretation of power underscored that, ‘Others’ also become involved in the channeling and distribution of power. From this lens, the idea of a “New Constitution” could be interpreted in terms of a new form of colonization by Westerns powers. They are not physically present, yet their influence is everywhere, creating the same hybrid identities and polarization among people.