Authors retain the copyright without restrictions for their published content in this journal. HSSR is a SHERPA ROMEO Green Journal.
Publishing License
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of
SURVIVAL UNDER DURESS: ANARCHIST CRITIQUE OF THINNER THAN SKIN
Corresponding Author(s) : Shaista Malik
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews,
Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021): March
Abstract
Purpose of the study: This study used an Anarchist framework to prove that Thinner than Skin by Uzma Aslam Khan explores the causes of the peripheral communities' shared precariousness and their fight to sustain and conserve life in a world encroached upon by civilization.
Methodology: Using Anarchist's (Manicardi, 2012; Zerzan, 2006, Bookchin, 2005) framework that believes that this materialistic worldview can be refuted only by unveiling the oppressive conditions of our modern existence, looking for remedy of people's unbearable misery is tantamount to finding a cure for these miseries. Further, the research is qualitative and analytical in nature, using close textual analysis.
Main Findings: The paper finds that Khan highlights the precarious condition of peripheral communities residing in the Northern region of Pakistan. The analysis has proved that Khan's fiction, particularly her novel Thinner than Skin expresses her anarchist vision and shows her detest for modern civilization which being steeped in anthropocentric ideology subjects all forms of life to extinction
Applications of the study: The paper helps to identify in future studies that how perpherial people are kept oppressed and marginalized, and how they will be given agentic position to represent themesevels rather they are represented.
Novelty/Originality of the study: The study is about nomadic tribes, residing in the womb of Himalayan ranges are subjected to a number of problems including natural disasters such as floods and climatic shifts which causes glacial melt and threatens to drown the adjacent areas in a few decades only to satiate big businesses' thirst for profit. The state fails miserably to defend its citizens from political and economic turmoil because the state serves as handmaiden to western countries and the business interests of their business tycoons.
Keywords
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)BibTeX
- Bookchin, M. (2005). Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Anarchy. AK Press.
- Esteva, G. (1987). Regenerating People's Space in S.N. Mendlowitz and R. BJ "Walker Towards a Just World Peace, Perspectives from Social Movements". Butterworths and Committee for a Just World Peace. https://doi.org/10.1177/030437548701200106 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/030437548701200106
- Fischer-Kowalski, M., & Haberl, H. (1993). Metabolism and Colonization: Modes of Production and the Physical Exchange between Societies and Nature. Innovation in Social Science Research, 6(4) (Schriftenreihe Ökologie, Band 32. Wien/Austria; Interuniversitäres Institut für Interdisziplinäre Forschung und Fortbildung; Abteilung Soziale Ökologie) (1993), pp. 4–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.1993.9968370
- Fischer-Kowalski, M., & Haberl, H. (1997). Metabolism and Colonization: Modes of Production and the Physical Exchange between Societies and Nature, in Marina Fischer Kowalski et al. eds, Gesellschaftlicher Stoffwechsel Und Kolonisierung Von Natur: Ein Versuch in Sozialer Ökologie. Amsterdam: G+B Verlag Fakultas.
- Fischer-Kowalski., et al. (2010). Sociometabolic regimes in indigenous communities and the crucial role of working time: A comparison of case studies . Vienna: Institute of Social Ecology
- Jahanara, A. K. (2016) Deep Topographies in the fiction of Uzma Aslam Khan. A Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 47(2), 173-185. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2011.557191 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2011.557191
- Khan, U, A. (2003). Trespassing. Delhi: Penguin.
- Khan, U, A. (2006). Interview with Ahmede Hussain. The Daily Star, 29 Dec. 23 Dec. 2010. http://www.the ailystar.net/magazine/2006/12/05/interview.htm
- Khan, U, A. (2008). The Geometry of God. New Delhi: Fourth Estate.
- Khan, U, A. (2010). About Uzma Aslam Khan. 23 Dec. 2010. http://www.clockrootbooks.com/clockroo twriters/uzma.html
- Khan, U, A. (2012). Thinner than Skin. New Delhi: Fourth Estate.
- Kohn, E. (2013). How forests think: Toward an anthropology beyond the human. Berkeley: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520276109.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520276109.001.0001
- Khan, U, A. (2019). The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali. Lahore: Ilqa Publisher.
- Kanwal, A. (2015). Rethinkinh Identities in Contemporary Pakistani Fiction: Beyond 9/11. UK. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137478443 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137478443
- Makhdoom and Yaqoob. (2019). The Landscape of Vertical Wilderness: Environmentalism and a Sense of Place in Uzma Aslam Khan's Novel Thinner than Skin. KJLR, 22(2), 173-184.
- Manicardi, E. (2012). Free From Civilization: Notes Toward a Radical Critique of Civilization's Foundations: Domination, Culture, Fear, Economics, Technology. Green Anarchy Press.
- Manicardi, E. (2020). Rete, oppio dei popoli: Internet, social media, tecno-cultura: la morsa digitale della civiltà . Italy: Kindle Edition.
- Barnet. R. J. (1981). The Lean Years. London: Abacus.
- Sahlins, M. (1960). Evolution and Culture. Elman Services. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.8980 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.8980
- Shiva, V. (1989). Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development. Zed Books.
- Tina, R, C. (2013). The Wealth of Poverty: Capitalizing the Opportunities of Poverty for the Kingdom of God. Outskirts Press, 2013.
- Zerzan, J. (2006). Elements of Refusal. CAL Press.
References
Bookchin, M. (2005). Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Anarchy. AK Press.
Esteva, G. (1987). Regenerating People's Space in S.N. Mendlowitz and R. BJ "Walker Towards a Just World Peace, Perspectives from Social Movements". Butterworths and Committee for a Just World Peace. https://doi.org/10.1177/030437548701200106 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/030437548701200106
Fischer-Kowalski, M., & Haberl, H. (1993). Metabolism and Colonization: Modes of Production and the Physical Exchange between Societies and Nature. Innovation in Social Science Research, 6(4) (Schriftenreihe Ökologie, Band 32. Wien/Austria; Interuniversitäres Institut für Interdisziplinäre Forschung und Fortbildung; Abteilung Soziale Ökologie) (1993), pp. 4–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.1993.9968370
Fischer-Kowalski, M., & Haberl, H. (1997). Metabolism and Colonization: Modes of Production and the Physical Exchange between Societies and Nature, in Marina Fischer Kowalski et al. eds, Gesellschaftlicher Stoffwechsel Und Kolonisierung Von Natur: Ein Versuch in Sozialer Ökologie. Amsterdam: G+B Verlag Fakultas.
Fischer-Kowalski., et al. (2010). Sociometabolic regimes in indigenous communities and the crucial role of working time: A comparison of case studies . Vienna: Institute of Social Ecology
Jahanara, A. K. (2016) Deep Topographies in the fiction of Uzma Aslam Khan. A Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 47(2), 173-185. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2011.557191 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2011.557191
Khan, U, A. (2003). Trespassing. Delhi: Penguin.
Khan, U, A. (2006). Interview with Ahmede Hussain. The Daily Star, 29 Dec. 23 Dec. 2010. http://www.the ailystar.net/magazine/2006/12/05/interview.htm
Khan, U, A. (2008). The Geometry of God. New Delhi: Fourth Estate.
Khan, U, A. (2010). About Uzma Aslam Khan. 23 Dec. 2010. http://www.clockrootbooks.com/clockroo twriters/uzma.html
Khan, U, A. (2012). Thinner than Skin. New Delhi: Fourth Estate.
Kohn, E. (2013). How forests think: Toward an anthropology beyond the human. Berkeley: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520276109.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520276109.001.0001
Khan, U, A. (2019). The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali. Lahore: Ilqa Publisher.
Kanwal, A. (2015). Rethinkinh Identities in Contemporary Pakistani Fiction: Beyond 9/11. UK. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137478443 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137478443
Makhdoom and Yaqoob. (2019). The Landscape of Vertical Wilderness: Environmentalism and a Sense of Place in Uzma Aslam Khan's Novel Thinner than Skin. KJLR, 22(2), 173-184.
Manicardi, E. (2012). Free From Civilization: Notes Toward a Radical Critique of Civilization's Foundations: Domination, Culture, Fear, Economics, Technology. Green Anarchy Press.
Manicardi, E. (2020). Rete, oppio dei popoli: Internet, social media, tecno-cultura: la morsa digitale della civiltà . Italy: Kindle Edition.
Barnet. R. J. (1981). The Lean Years. London: Abacus.
Sahlins, M. (1960). Evolution and Culture. Elman Services. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.8980 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.8980
Shiva, V. (1989). Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development. Zed Books.
Tina, R, C. (2013). The Wealth of Poverty: Capitalizing the Opportunities of Poverty for the Kingdom of God. Outskirts Press, 2013.
Zerzan, J. (2006). Elements of Refusal. CAL Press.