Published on June 2019 | Literature, Neocolonial Impacts, Poetry, Pakistan

The Neocolonial Paraphernalia and the Socio-Cultural Crisis of the Local in Rizwan Akhtar’s Lahore, I am Coming

This paper attempts to explore the effects of neocolonialism caused by the economic, and military oppression of the local population of Pakistan with reference to the selected poetry from Lahore, I am Coming (2017) by Rizwan Akhtar. Furthermore, we aim to dig deep into the psychological crisis/confusion and physical trauma of the local Pakistanis that consequently follows this oppression. The neocolonial modes of power practice, as explored in this article, include economic exploitation, linguistic imperialism, psychological domination and militaristic oppression of the Pakistani local population by Western imperialist practices. Akhtar’s poetry critically takes into account the dominating role of neocolonialism which on one hand promotes cultural sameness, linguistic expansion and the military oppressions in the name of Global War on Terror whereas on the contrary, it unravels the unsound position of the postcolonial local who suffers the most under the prevailing phase of modern day neocolonialism. The analysis of Akhtar’s selected poetry, reveals that the aforementioned techniques used by western powers continue to dislocate the Pakistani local and intensely affect the very roots of the traditional Pakistani society. Akhtar's poetry, above all, is the poetry of general rights of humanity which unmasks the obscure as well as overt challenges fostered under the popular tag of development in the guise of neocolonialism