Description
Book SynopsisSovereign Attachments rethinks sovereignty by moving it out of the exclusive domain of geopolitics and legality and into cultural, religious, and gender studies. Through a close reading of a stunning array of cultural texts produced by the Pakistani state and the Pakistan-based Taliban, Shenila Khoja-Moolji theorizes sovereignty as an ongoing attachment that is negotiated in public culture. Both the state and the Taliban recruit publics into relationships of trust, protection, and fraternity by summoning models of Islamic masculinity, mobilizing kinship metaphors, and marshalling affect. In particular, masculinity and Muslimness emerge as salient performances through which sovereign attachments are harnessed. The book shifts the discussion of sovereignty away from questions about absolute dominance to ones about shared repertoires, entanglements, and co-constitution.
Trade Review"Khoja-Moolji’s success lies in highlighting the imbrications of sovereignty with religion as well as gender. . . .
Sovereign Attachments would be of interest to both undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of international relations, gender and sexuality studies, Islamic studies and Asian studies." * LSE Review of Books *
"Khoja-Moolji’s book, with its focused context and excellent feminist analysis, illuminates the complex dynamics of sovereignty, forcing the reader to move beyond visible sovereign contests of violence and to consider those contests that occur in the cultural sphere."
* Al-Raida *
“Khoja-Moolji presents critical new material that contributes to debates regarding the role of emotion, kinship, and gender in political movements. . . .
Sovereign Attachments is a fascinating read” * Ethos *
"The interdisciplinary depth and reach of the book make it an impressive contribution to the study of gender, religion, and politics. . . . Khoja-Moolji’s creative, vivid, and nuanced textual analysis provides a convincing bulwark for her central thesis." * Reading Religion *
"The book is a remarkable contribution on how sovereignty is maintained by the Pakistani state and challenged by the Taliban through the performativity of Islamo-masculinity, kinship metaphors and memory in the public culture of Pakistan."
* Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific *
“An interesting and engaging treatise, this book will interest scholars of Islam, gender, politics, and Pakistan.” * Economic and Political Weekly *
"Khoja-Moolji’s work is an engaging and well-organized piece of literature that is remarkably relevant to not only understanding Pakistan’s current political landscape, but also today’s international relationships."
* Feminist Media Studies *
"Such a masterful takedown of Pakistani visions of masculinity — both state and non-state — makes Khoja-Moolji one of the clearest and most original scholarly voices working at the intersection of politics, South Asia, Islam and cultural and gender studies. . . .An essential read for anyone interested in imagining more hopeful and generous futures."
* Dawn *
"Scholars in numerous other fields—postcolonialism, gender, media, and so forth—can benefit from Khoja-Moolji’s game-changing re-theorization of sovereignty and deep investigation."
* Gender & Politics *
"Khoja-Moolji’s work. . . . makes a significant contribution to the understanding of gender and the contestation of sovereignty in Pakistan and more broadly, Muslim majority contexts." * Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review *
"Those who want to better understand the delicate but resolute efforts employed by the [Pakistani State] and other actors for nurturing consent for violence should grab a copy of
Sovereign Attachments." * Strategic Analysis *
"This ability to simultaneously show the strong hold of the ideas hitherto discussed as well as their fragility, while also ensuring lucid prose and cutting-edge analysis spotlights Shenila Khoja-Moolji as one of the most clear and original scholarly voices working at the intersection of politics, Islam, and cultural and gender studies today." * Gender, Place & Culture *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Public Lives of Sovereignty
Part One: Sovereign Islamo-Masculinities
1 • Narrating the Sovereign
2 • Identity, Alterity
3 • Competing Sovereigns
Part Two: Stylizing Political Attachments
4 • Subordinated Femininities
5 • Kinship Metaphors
6 • Managing Affect
Conclusion: Imbricated Sovereignties
Notes
Bibliography
Index
