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Adab Colloquium: Martyr/Mujahid: Muslim Origins and the Modern Urdu Novel

Adab Colloquium with with Presenter Maryam Wasif Khan (LUMS University, Lahore) and Discussant Jennifer Dubrow (University of Washington, Seattle)

Martyr/Mujahid: Muslim Origins and the Modern Urdu Novel

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In this colloquium, Maryam Wasif Khan will discuss a chapter from her book, Who is a Muslim? Orientalism and Literary Populisms (Fordham, 2021). The book argues for a new history of Urdu prose fiction, one that takes into account its orientalist pasts and its religio-populist present. Chapter 4, “Mujāhid/Martyr,” suggests that the Progressive Writers’ Movement, though well-known to scholars of Urdu had a relatively minor impact on its literary development when compared to the bestselling, popular novels of writers such as Rashid ul-Kheiri, Nasim Hijazi and Razia Butt. The strident religio-nationalist nature of these novels, then, is what has shaped Urdu prose fiction in our present moment.

Learn more about the Adab Colloquium at MEI here.

If you are interested in attending this event please download the pre-circulated reading and RSVP below.