A Person of Pakistani Origins

by Ziauddin Sardar

Overview

What does it mean to be a Pakistani? Can it mean more than one thing? And what do others think it means? Ziauddin Sardar explores what makes a Pakistani, and whether it's something one wants or ought to be. Reflecting on his culture and heritage through tales of the Pakistanis in his life, A Person of Pakistani Origins is a whirlwind tour of dueling poets, Bollywood films, a bookish auntie who harbors feminist urges, and a vanishing uncle who reappears miles away. Thoughtful and generously laced with humor, this book delves deep into Pakistan's eclectic culture, and the humble insanity of everyday life for a person of Pakistani origins. Sardar richly celebrates the importance of where we come from, and of who we become.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787381117
Publisher:	Hurst
Publication date:	09/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Ziauddin Sardar is an award-winning, internationally renowned writer, futurist and cultural critic. A former columnist on the New Statesman, he has also served as a Commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission. He is the author of many books, including Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Skeptical Muslim, Reading the Qur'an, and Mecca: The Sacred City. He is editor of the influential quarterly, Critical Muslim.

Table of Contents

1. A Person of Pakistan Origins 2. Ibn Safi, BA 3. Two Books and an Auntie 4. Dilip Kumar Made Me Do It 5. Love, Death and Urdu Poetry 6. My Vanishing Uncle References Acknowledgements

Editorial Reviews

"An adroit genealogical inquiry, a wise meditation on the confusions and compulsions that make up an individual . . . Sardar's captivating narrative constitutes a rebellion against the geographical truth of a country created by dissection.'"—The Times Literary Supplement

"Ziauddin Sardar's journey is emblematic for our age of tragically hardening borders. A compassionately critical thinker about faith and nationality, Sardar was born in Pakistan and made his life in London, becoming an acclaimed scholar and writer. He reminds us that we now live in a world in which passports, visas and identities can be switched in a single second from 'Exempted' to 'Cancelled'." — Ruth Padel, Professor of Poetry at King's College London, author of On Migration, Tigers in Red Weather and Emerald

"Where so often Pakistan and Pakistanis are presented in a one-dimensional way through the prism of the latest crisis or bad news story, A Person of Pakistani Origins provides a complex, inter-generational, humorous, and deeply personal account of the many ways to be a British Pakistani."—Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, author of The Enemy Within: A Tale of Muslim Britain

"This is a British cultural critic's impassioned reflection on identity, his own and Pakistan's, against the backdrop of the country's tumultuous 71-year-old history."— Shelf-Awareness

"In the twenty-first century, migration, faith, and identity are disrupting nations and dividing peoples around the globe. Ziauddin Sardar uses his own life to understand and illustrate the complexities and profundities of these forces with unbearable lightness and also emotion, honesty, beauty and wit. Sardar's birthplace, Pakistan, causes him much aggravation, but the nation's heartbeat echoes his own, and he is made by its long civilization. And still deeply affected by its story. He is cosmopolitan and thoroughly grounded. This wonderful book balances the two sides with panache and integrity. It's the way we must all learn to live."— Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, author of Exotic England: The Making of a Curious Nation

'Sardar's memoir is an important read for anyone who has ties with South Asia . . . its strength lies in the overturning of clichés through accounts of the author's personal experiences.'— Newsline Magazine

From the Publisher