Rhizomatic Muslim Futures in Bina Shah’s Before She Sleeps

Abstract

This paper explores Muslim futurist notions of identity and resistance in Shah’s dystopian novel Before She Sleeps through the application of Deleuzo-Guattarian philosophical perspectives: ‘arborescence’, ‘nomadology’, ‘de/reterritorialization’ and ‘desire-machines’ for examining the potentiality of a Pakistani text in imagining rhizomatic future/s. Pakistani Speculative Fiction is an emerging genre which envisages alternative Muslim futures in the backdrop of the South Asian cultural and artistic imperatives. The novel is bereft of an escapist stance in favor of a critical and strategic one to envision collective possibilities for progress and coexistence. The study is qualitative and interpretive as it discovers meanings, patterns and cultural contexts through close reading of the novel to prove the rhizomatic identitarian ethos of the Muslim subject in a futuristic scenario. The study is significant as it focalizes intersectional outlooks for the creation of a cohesive and inclusive future by countering Western essentialist approaches to future and textuality.