Home Journal List Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan Volume 56 Article Details

Modernity Misinterpreted in Pakistan

Abstract

This paper explores varied perceptions of being modern in Pakistan. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan, this study investigates the understanding of the concept of modernity in Pakistan and its close connection with westernization. The informants of my research show an aversion towards modernity based on western patterns and labelled it as misinterpreted modernity. Misinterpreted modernity refers to the westernized model of modernity adapted by many people in Pakistan. A few important markers of misinterpreted modernity, suggested by the informants, include adopting western dress, using the latest technological gadgets, buying food from international fast-food chains like McDonald‟s and Burger King, and speaking in English. Most of the people in Pakistan qualify as modern based on these markers. In this study, I propose that modernity in Pakistan is misinterpreted because as a postcolonial nation the institutions have been established in Pakistan whereas the critical engagement required for the development of these institutions is lacking. The informants, however, reflect on these processes and stress that “our modernity” should emerge from our own cultural roots. Drawing on Eisenstadt theory of multiple modernities and empirical findings of my research, this paper suggests an alternative form of modernity, perhaps a Pakistani modernity.

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