Pakistan Languages and Humanities Review

Countering Islamophobia and Muslim Stereotypes in Ali Eteraz’s Native Believer

Afia Shahbaz, Dr. Aamer Shaheen, Dr. Sadia Qamar — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0500

This research paper attempts to delineate the strategies adopted by American Muslims to counter Islamophobia and Muslim Stereotypes in Ali Eteraz’s novel Native Believer (2016). Employing Sherene Razack’s theoretical perspectives from her book: Nothing has to Make Sense: Upholding White Supremacy through anti-Muslim Racism (2022), the paper focuses on post-9/11 Muslim lives in America and the worldwide. The paper charts M’s journey from being a secular Muslim toward a reckless tramp and then an American civilian completely assimilated into the American society. The colonial encounter between Western powers and Muslim-majority regions, spanning centuries of conquest, colonization and cultural imposition has left indelible marks on both the colonizer and the colonized. As the securitization of Islam, War on Terror, and proliferation of surveillance measures serve to perpetuate a cycle of suspicion and discrimination and affect Muslim communities living at diaporic spaces, the paper shows that generally a Muslim has to devise an assimilative approach to survive in such a society

Silencing Women: A Textual Analysis of Honor Killing in Awais Khan’s No Honour (2021)

Haseeb Ul Hassan, Dr. Fasih Ur Rehman, Asma Qayum — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0500

This paper aims to explores the phenomenon of Honor Killing and investigate the main reasons of honor killing. Also, the researcher aims to highlights the traumas faced by the protagonist due to honor killing and explain how the main character destabilizes the hierarchal structure of the patriarchy in Awais Khan’s No Honour (2021). Honor Killing remains one of the main social issues in Pakistan. In 2021, over 470 cases of honor killing were reported in Pakistan, but it is estimated that around 1000 women are killed in the name of honor every year in Pakistan. Awais Khan’s No Honour (2021) is the portrayal of a misogynistic society, a society where age-old rules are obeyed, and women are suppressed through different social practices. The papers employ Paul Churchill’s notion of understanding and ending of Honor killing to examine how the protagonist escapes from the prejudice and patriarchal society. This study uses textual analysis as a methodological framework to interpret dialogues, paragraphs, symbols to understand the phenomenon of honor killing. Conclusion: The study maintains that there are several social practices that leads to the honor killing. This study also shows the physical, psychological and sexual impacts of honor killing in the selected text of Honor killing. The study further concludes that honor killing is rooted especially in the honor of women in Pakistan. The researcher recommends that other novels or literary texts may also be explored to understand the notion of Honor Killing.

The Illusion of Consent: Hegemony and Resistance in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy

Syeda Aliya Shah, Rabia Tariq — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0500

This research paper examines Ama Ata Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy (1977) to expose postcolonial African elites being ideologically framed by Western worldviews, thereby perpetuating cultural and psychological domination even in the absence of physical colonization. The primary objective is to investigate the mental conditioning of African self-exiles who adopt and internalize Western ideologies with little resistance, reinforcing a passive form of consent. The secondary aim is to examine the process by which this internalization occurs, thereby revealing the subtle mechanisms of neocolonial control. It critiques the postcolonial notions of hegemony and consent through Sissie’s experiences in Europe and her reflections on neocolonial Africa. A qualitative research design is employed using textual analysis of Aidoo’s novel as the primary data source. The research is grounded in Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony and consent. Key findings reveal that the illusion of consent is maintained through ideological conditioning that frames Western values as universal and superior. They are presented under the guise of politeness or modernity, not through coercion.

Study of Social Factors Affecting Academic Achievement of Students at Higher Secondary Level

Samreen Zehra, Dr. Shazia Naureen, Hazira Qomi — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0500

This study explores how social factors affect the academic achievement of higher secondary students, focusing on parental attitudes, teacher support, and peer involvement. Main research objective was to determine the relationship between peer, parents and teachers’ involvement and students’ academic performance. Using a quantitative survey design, data were collected from 320 randomly selected students from three branches of Punjab College, Islamabad. Analysis through descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation revealed significant positive relationships between parental encouragement, teacher guidance, and peer collaboration with academic success. Findings indicate that achievement is shaped not only by individual effort but also by students’ social environments. Constructive home–school partnerships, supportive teacher–student interactions, and cooperative peer relationships help in learning motivation and self-efficacy. Study provides empirical evidence from Pakistan’s secondary education context, emphasizing that academic success should be understood as a socially influenced and collaboratively constructed phenomenon. It recommends promoting parent–teacher collaboration and integrating peer-support strategies into school improvement programs.

English Verb Switching in Balochi: Patterns, Functions and Sociolinguistic Implications

Dr.Hamid Ali Baloch, Dr. Sharif Mir — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0500

This study investigates the phenomenon of English verb switching into Balochi, a growing sociolinguistic trend in Balochistan. The objective of this research is to examine the intensity, patterns, and sociolinguistic motivations behind the use of English verbs in Balochi discourse. Data were collected from seven districts of Balochistan, Quetta, Hub, Turbat, Gwadar, Jafarabad, Sibi, and Lasbela representing diverse sociolinguistic contexts. A total of 1,050 participants (150 from each district), aged between 12 and 50, were interviewed in different educational institutions, language centers, and marketplaces focusing on situations where English verb switching was most likely to occur. The English verb switching was transcribed and analyzed to gauge the influences of verb switching. The results of the Chi-square software specified a considerable number of English verbs switching into Balochi in the urban areas than the rural ones. This is very alarming for a language which has already been ignored and marginalized.