REVIEWING POWER POLITICS AND POPULISM IN IKS PAKISTAN A PERSONAL HISTORY

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gpr.2022(VII-I).06      10.31703/gpr.2022(VII-I).06      Published : Mar 2022
Authored by : Tazanfal Tehseem , Saba Zulfiqar , Rabia Faiz

06 Pages : 48-63

    Abstrict

    This paper aims to explore the structural ways employed by a Pakistani politician to convince the readers of his socio-political stance on Pakistan from its independence to the present age. For this purpose, the generic analysis (Martin, 2008) has been employed which in turn explains how a narrator is successful in the construction of an argument and realigning the reader with his own point of view. The broader methodology includes how the narrator interpersonally interacts with the readership, ideationally shares references and textually builds his arguments in the text. The microscopic construal of those metafunctions has been supported by Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014), whereas, the genre has a particular configuration of those listed metafunctions. Therefore, the data for the present study builds on the selected texts from 'Imran Khan Pakistan: A personal history by Imran Khan. The findings show that by standing on power, the narrator aligns the readers through negotiation and constructs his argument by giving references towards the history and his own experiences. 

    Keywords

    Power Politics, Populism, Imran Khan, Pakistan

    Introduction

    This paper deals with the exploration of transformation meant to be induced by a political party leader in the wider readership in order to prove how a narrator stands in power by realigning readers and using genre in order to promote his purpose. This exploration is done through the generic analysis (Martin and Rose, 2008) by using tools of abstraction, engagement, enlightenment, and recontextualization on micro-level and logico-semantic relations between the genres which in turn explores the way through which the organization of field and narrator's point of negotiation has been explored. Furthermore, these tools help in finding out how the language of abstraction and the construction of two worlds on one ground has been done in the selected recount and how the narrator realigns the reader with his own thinking perspective (Martin, 1999). 

    As Martin (2008) has defined the genre as 

    goal-oriented social processes. Therefore, the generic analysis is employed in order to attain the desired purpose. According to Martin (2008), the configuration of meanings supports the definition of the genre and due to different way of configurations of meaning, the genre has been classified into different categories (Rose, 2006). These meanings have a certain type of impact on the reader/students besides the prior subject knowledge and different approaches to learning but the ability to cope with the genre text also has some influential effect on students (Francis and Hallam, 2000). Moreover, genre addresses an agreement between the writer and its readers as the meanings can be understood in a relationship to the culture (Dixon and Bortolussi, 2009). Thus, genre contains the field, mode and tenor as its constituents and the generic analysis provides the opportunity for analysts to analyze the text by exploring the organization of the field, how the text has connected logically (mode), and on which type of position a writer is negotiating with the reader (tenor) (Martin, 2008).

    Background to Study

    The data of the study has been taken from the book 'Imran Khan Pakistan: A personal History', written by Mr. Imran Khan, a cricketer turned philanthropist than a renowned politician. The generic analysis explores how the field has been organized to convey the message. The data depicts that the text contains negotiating attitude of a narrator who looks to demand favor by spreading awareness. The field is organized in such a way that it accounts for the history of Pakistan as well as presents its state. The logico-semantic relationships between different genres (e.g. autobiographical recount, historical account, biographical account etc.) help the narrator to create an impact on the readership. Also, the language of abstraction and enlightenment helps the narrator to make his stance more vividly conveyed (Martin, 2006). 

    Literature Review

    As genre engrosses field, mode and tenor and shapes its structure in such a way that the purpose remains achievable. There is an enormous literature which can be related to the genre on general terms (including micro- and macro-genre) for example; Martin (1994); Christie (2002); Martin (2001a); Muntigl (2004); Jordens (2002); Iedema (2003); O’Halloran (2004); Martin and Rose (2008); Martin (1999); Halliday (1971); Halliday (1993b); Halliday and Matthiessan (2014); Martin (1985) and Martin (1995a) to quote a few. Martin (1999) endorses macro genre relations by analyzing geographical textbooks with the help of a logico-semantic system. This logico-semantic system contains extension, elaboration, enhancement, speech projection, and thought projection. These relations are found between the micro-genres which in turn construct the whole text, known as the macro genre. The findings of this macro genre analysis give the logical framing of the relationship between historical activities, social issues, and personal accounts and the negotiation made between reader and writer. Furthermore, genre analysis is used to demystify the interdiscursive presentation in the professional as well as in the academic setting (Bhatia, 2012; Bhatia & Nodoushan, 2015). Moreover, Cheng (2021) analyses the role of lexico-grammatical elements in promoting genre analysis.     

    In Martin (1999), the finding shows that the extracted micro-genre recount contains abstraction which is used in multiple ways in order to endorse the ideology which was meant to be focused in the text, and readers are realigned with the writers, which shows the writer to be on powerful stance in the changing societal environment. For the analysis of realignment, the tools (i.e. enlightenment, engagement, and recontextualization) are used, which in turn focuses on the power gained by the writer through realigning readers. For example,

    I remember thinking at the time: "Is this what freedom means?"

    In this example, the writer is not only referring to the past incidence of attaining his homeland but it also refers to the present situation. Thus, the proposition is not only referring to the past but to the present circumstances also. It represents his mental enlightenment which in turn aligns the reader with his point of view on what we were supposed to attain and what we attained as a by-product.  

    Research Methodology

    The data resides certain motto of a political leader to achieve success. The purpose of this paper is to explore the goal to which genre recount is used as a structural base on a general level and other genres which are used on a micro-level (see Section 1). Therefore, the analysis has been divided into two major categories:

    1. Micro genre

    2. Macro genre

    Micro Genre

    The generic analysis on the the micro level deals with the notion of how the narrator is successful in realigning readers (Martin, 1999). This particular section discovers the way through which the proposition is made convincing to readers. This section contains the following tools of analysis


    Abstraction 

    The usage of a grammatical metaphor in the text in

    order to make a language of abstraction is called as nominalization. This makes the writer more indirect to the reader and makes the world of abstraction that defines his proposition more clearly. 


    Enlightenment

    It deals with the textual structure of the notion enlightened by the writer. The notions are linked in the text with each which is apparently separate. Through which the readers are aligned. Thus, it gives the reader a powerful stance to control.  


    Engagement

    This tool deals with the way through which the writer engages with the reader and realigns the reader's beliefs and expectations with his own (Martin, 1999). This tool also in result gives the writer a powerful stance. 


    Re-contextualization

    Here the text is viewed through the spectacles of signs (images) and the implicit meanings are explored.


    Macro Genre

    This section of analysis deals with the generic macro structure of the whole text which in turn defines the organization of meanings (proposition) in a whole text. The purpose of this section is to explore the organization of propositions that are connected to each other. In order to explore those connections, Halliday's (2014) logico-semantic structure is applied to explore the relationship between the macro genres which discusses how the field has been organized throughout the text to promote certain notions. In the analysis section macro genre has been further divided into three sections:

    a) Prologue generic analysis

    b) Chapters generic analysis

    c) Epilogue generic analysis


    Data Analysis and Discussions

    The analysis proves how a political figure achieves his goal by recounting the events from his own perspective. 


    Micro Genre Analysis

    The text which is under consideration in micro genre analysis comprises on the clauses which are taken from the first chapter of book titled 'Can I Still Play Cricket in Heaven? This text falls under the category of recount genre and is divided into the following phases.

     


    Orientation Outside of Pakistan, I am mainly known for my 21-year....inspired Pakistan creation.

    Record of the events Pakistan's root lies in the final days of the British Raj.....gave birth to Pakistan and carried us through. 

    Re-orientation Democracy, though never had an opportunity......many dangerous undercurrents built up in our country.

    Abstraction

    The language of abstraction used by the author is a major source of presenting the events in the abstract form rather than in concrete form. For example, he has used abstraction as a descriptive attribute, has made logical causal relations, and has taken abstraction as a classifying or carrier attribute. He has taken abstraction as a subject and worked as new. 


    Abstraction as a Descriptive Attribute

    Abstraction is used as a descriptive attribute which

     functions as an adjective in a sentence realizing the abstraction which can be described in a certain way. In the following example, nominalised expressions are highlighted.

    o Pakistan is a country where politics is a game of loot and plunder.


    Freedom as Descriptive Attribute

    o We were free people. Free to rediscover an Islamic culture and free, too, to implement the ideals of Islam.

    Logical Causal Relation

    Using abstraction as a source of making logical relations between clauses explores the idea of cause and effect in a sentence. The nominalised form introduces the whole agency in a sentence. For example,

    i. We were the shining example in the Muslim world of what Islam could achieve were it allowed to flourish. 

    ii. ....copying the former colonial rulers, had Inherited a mindset that the natives were not to be trusted.

    iii. It was that such a bold experiment of recreating the ideals of Islam could never be achieved in a country where Muslims were in minority.

    Abstraction as Carrier or Classifying Attribute

    Abstraction is also used as a classifying attribute. For example,

    o They belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. 


    Abstraction Functioning as Subject: Obscuring Agency

    Interpersonally, there are some clauses that act as a subject while obscuring agency. Thus in ordered words, it functions as a mood element. For example,

    Table 1a

    Mood Tag of the Clauses

    Mood

    Residue

    Mood Tag

    The insidious humiliations of colonialism

    were gone

    Weren’t it?

    The bloodshed

    was...worse than anything...

    Wasn’t

    The act of partition

    made 12 million people homeless.

    Doesn’t it?

    Modal Violence and being Suppressed

    Abstractions are also used in order to express the violence faced by people of that time. For example,


    Table 1b. Residue of the Clauses

    Mood (Subject ^ Finite)

    Residue

    The insidious humiliations of colonialism were

    gone

    The bloodshed was

    worse than anything.

    The act of partition made

    12 million people homeless.

    Abstraction Working as a New

    Abstraction is also taken as working as a new, revealing the proposition of a sentence. For example,


    Table1c. Classifying Clause into Theme, Transition and New

    Theme

    Transition

    New

    He

    argued against

    an unquestioning acceptance of Western democracy.

    Politics

    is

    a game of loot and plunder.

    He (Iqbal)

    offered

    concrete guidance.

    Enlightenment

    This part of the analysis explores how meanings interact with each other in order to reinforce the unfolding of a single theme in a more effective way. Here two stories are packed together. One is of mental suffering of the people and the mental change which was there during the time of separation and the other represents the physical suffering and the state. 

    Mental Processes 

    In order to intensify the effect of the historical context, the writer has engrossed the mental state of people. For example,

    i. He (Gandhi) thought that politics without religion would be immoral. 

    ii. Why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. 

    iii. I saw people arriving on the trains that had been mutilated, women who had been raped and children who had been traumatized. 

    iv. I remember thinking at the time: "Is this what freedom means?"

    v. Both Jinnah and Gandhi believed that it was the compassion preached by every religion that could become a counterweight to materialism. 


    Change

    This section constitutes the analysis of data based upon the events of the outer world. For example,

    i. This intransigence ‘meant that Hindu revivalists were left the greater part of the blame...

    ii. Jinnah no longer believed Muslims would be safe in a united India. 


    Topic Sentence Elaboration

    This section explores the way of information flow in the text which makes the subject matter textually successful. For example,

    o Outside of Pakistan, I am mainly known for my 21-year-long cricket career. But in my home country, I am the head of a party that is battling to take on a political elite that has for more than six decades stymied this great country.  

    Hypertheme not Related to Previous

    = . . .

    o The experience of individuals in the accounts I heard and read was heart-breaking. 

    = . . .

    o The madness that took place was exactly that – a madness. 


    Final Hyper-theme

    o Democracy, though, never had an opportunity to

    o flourish in Pakistan as Jinnah died in September 1948, leaving us rudder-less. 

    = . . .

    o Instead, the British trained bureaucrats had a low opinion of democracy – at least as far as Pakistan was concerned.


    Engagement

    In order to make the stance more clearly, the narrator has reinforced those propositions which might be taken as truth by someone. So in order to address the reader in a more explicit way to endorse his own stance narrator has negated some propositions. These sources are used for the alignment of readers.


    Negation 

    The negative clauses attract the attention of readers and help them to figure out the boundaries of the given events. For example,

    o The ideals of Islam could never be achieved in a country where Muslims were in the minority. 

    o Jinnah no longer believed Muslims would be safe in a united India.

    o He was appalled by butchery, from which not even women or children were spared.


    Replacement of Mistaken Beliefs

    Likewise, the narrator corrected some of the mistaken beliefs. For example,

    o The difference between Muslims and non-Muslim is not merely a theological one – it is a difference in a fundamental attitude towards life.

    o The West Pakistan ruling elite did not want to give the Bengalis an equal share.


    Mistaken Expectation

    Similarly, the narrator reinforces some of the expectations which were being expected on the general ground but they were not fulfilled. For example,

    o It was not only that India, with its caste system and social inequalities, was the antithesis of everything they wanted.


    Adjusting

    The examples described above contains the markers which clears the readership who might have expected more or less. For example,

    o The difference between Muslim and non-Muslim is not merely theological one...

    o For Iqbal, Islam is not just the name for certain beliefs and forms of worship. 

    o He was appalled by butchery, from which not even women or children were spared.

    Aspectual

    The aspect has also some significance towards the exploration. For example,

    o Before then the territory - roughly defined as the Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province, the coastline on the Arabian sea of Sindh province and Baluchistan – had not been defined as Pakistan.


    Elaboration

    To reinforce the idea, the narrator has elaborated the phrase, clause and sentence. For example,


    Group/Phase Elaboration

    o Pakistan is a country where politics is a game of loot and plunder

    = and any challenger to status quo

    = even somebody with my kind of public profile and popularity- can be arrested and threatened with violence. 


    Clause Elaboration

    o We were a nation

    = wrested out of the dying British Raj as a homeland for Muslims. 

    o We were a free people

    = free to rediscover an Islamic culture that had once towered over the subcontinent.


    Sentence Elabortation

    o Liaquat Ali Khan, died in 1951, 

    assassinated in Rawalpindi. 

    =He was killed by an Afghan opposed to the settlement that had left Kashmir divided, a man who felt Pakistan should be fighting to take it back.


    Clause as Extension

    In order to make meanings clearer, extensions are used within sentences. For example,

    o Gone were the insidious humiliations of colonialism 

    + and the fear of being drowned in an overwhelminglyoverwhelmingly Hindu majority in an independent India.

    o Free, too, to implement the ideals of Islam based on equality

    + and social and economic justice.

    o As the years went by

    +we built our own tormented history

    + and drifted further 

    +and further away from the ideals that had inspired Pakistan’s creation.

    Recontextualization

    Here the multimodal representation of the one of the genres is analyzed and meanings are made prominent here. The following recount is selected which is related to the picture of the text. The text is taken from the middle of the two pictures. The picture on the left is a person migrating from India to Pakistan on the roof of the train (struggling physically). The picture on the right is of Imran Khan addressing to the crowd the same crowd which has achieved their homeland with struggles and is still struggling to sustain peace in a country. Thus, it ultimately serves the purpose of the reason why the narrator has made a different political party. The text selected contains the description of the need to make the party. Thus, here the narrator is making his stance clearer. 

    Recount selected

    When I married Jemima, I had no intention of setting up my.....religious parties running the country.

    In other words, we can say that in the first picture, there is a crowd on the train which is travelling from India to Pakistan, showing the suffering faced by people by the act of partition which was meant to create peace and harmony among Muslims. In other words, it is not just a mass travelling towards their homeland but also the sacrifice made by people to attain their homeland, sustaining the bloodshed. In the multimodal analysis, it is categorised as given but the picture which is taken in contrast is the one in which Imran Khan is addressing this mass enthusiastically, leading the impression of passion and devotion by the leader of the party, who is committed to reform the values of society, for change. 

    Results and Discussions of Micro Generic Analysis

    By the genre analysis of the recount of Imran Khan’s book or by analysing the phases of the genre recount (Martin, 2006) following results can be discussed.


    Results of Abstraction

    In the recount, abstraction has been used as a tool 

    of indirect wording (Martin, 1999) to bind the text 

    on more than a surface level of understanding.


    Abstraction as Descriptive Attribute

    In orientation, Imran khan has used abstraction as a descriptive attribute. In other words, he has used abstraction to elaborate on the events and concepts resisting in his mind. By making freedom a descriptive attribute, Imran khan has described what freedom was for Muslims. Imran Khan took freedom as a concept in order to define the boundaries and on which bases they were demanding their freedom in the 20th century. The prior focus of Muslims was on Islam and Islamic Culture. Those were the goals behind their freedom.

    The usage of grammatical metaphor in order to produce a logical connection between clauses and to introduce the whole agency with the help of a grammatical metaphor helps Imran khan to create a world of abstraction and gives him authority to create a range of meanings that the reader can easily interpret. From the usage of abstraction as a means of creating logical connections, the following meanings can be explored.

    Table 2a.

    Explanation of the Abstraction Acting as Agency

    Grammatical metaphor

    Carrying verbs

    Acting as agency

    Shining example

    Achieved and flourish

    Agency of existence

    copying

    Inherited

    Agency of being superior

    Recreating ideals

    Achieved

    Agency of unproductiveness

    Imran Khan has recounted the condition and thoughts of Muslims during the partition that their thoughts were possessing esteemed kind of dreams. They wanted to set shining examples that could be achieved and flourish. Through the use of abstraction, he had defined the attitude of mind of the British people and it was the same attitude adopted by the previous colonial ruler. 

    Abstraction as Classifying Attribute

    Imran Khan has also used abstraction to represent the bases of the classification of two nations. The base of the two civilizations was the conflicting idea and conceptions. In other words, it reinforces the idea of separation. 


    Abstraction as Obscuring Agent

    By giving a close reading, the following question arises:

    o Who is responsible for the humiliation?

    o Who was behind the bloodshed? 

    o Who was responsible for the act of partition?

    In other words, we can conclude that with the help of abstraction writer has obscured the agent and has foregrounded the cause. The interpretations have been left to the reader because the general attributes are helping to make specific interpretations while the abstractions are working as subject. 


    Abstraction Working as New

    For the construction of the points Imran Khan has used abstraction as new in his sentences, which is introducing a new concept at the end point of the sentence in order to be clearer about the conception of the events which he has described in his recount. From the examples, we can conclude that:

    o The revolutionary idea that Allama Iqbal possessed was totally different from the present attitudes of Muslims. He questioned all those ideas of the Western democracy which was not questioned before. 

    o By specifying the context of Pakistan, Imran Khan has described what politics is, in its actual sense, which he has defined as loot and plunder. No one can dare to raise his/her voice to stop this loot in the country. He has associated this context with the context of the British rule in the sub-continent, from which people were not aware that they are being ruled by British people. 

    o Iqbal is a spiritual founder of Pakistan who offered his guidance to Muslims through which Muslims had sought out their motivation. 

    Enlightenment

    The discussion involves the analysis exploring the way through which the author had expressed the physical as well as mental suffering of Muslims at the time of partition. The verbs like fearing, seeing, thinking, believing etc. help to construct a mental picture. 


    Change

    This section explores the way through which the author has expressed the transformation taken place in the life Muslims, and it is the same transformation which he intended to create in the life of Pakistan again through creating awareness. 


    Table 2b. Explain the Transformation in a History

    Level of Change

    Transformation

    change on the national level

    The British had turned the policies in favour ofin favour of Hindus.

    Change on the individual level

    This marks the change in the status of an individual, highlighting the importance.

    Change on the religious level

    Hindus had amended their ways in order to stop the separation of the sub-continent.

    Change on the world level

    Democracy had affirmed that it was difficult for a state to exist with two different nations.


    Topic Sentence Elaboration

    Here the discussion is meant to explore the information flow in a recount by elaborating on the topic sentences. It also includes the discussion of how a certain proposition has been elaborated by the narrator. In Example 1, the narrator elaborates on his own identity and reasserts that the country's crisis is because of not remembering the ideals of Pakistan. In Example 2, the narrator elaborates on the notion of the struggles faced by Pakistan in order to achieve their separate homeland and the Example 3, an elaboration of the final theme explains that the true democracy is not practiced after the death of the ideals because people did not remind themselves the advices of the founders. 

    To sum up, those examples put a strong impression on the readers of the present situation caused by ignoring the past teachings. 


    Discussion of Engagement

    This section discusses how the narrator has presented his stance more clearly by negating or adjusting his notion. 

    Discussions of Negation

    In the first example of analysis (see section 5.1.3.), the narrator reinforces the proposition of what type of democracy was promoted and desired by Quaid-e-Azam for Pakistan and how democracy has been considered in the same country. 

    o In Example 1, the narrator reinforces the fact that the geographical part which had not been annexed to Pakistan at the time of separation but was the place where Muslims had their majority. In Example 2, the narrator negates the idea, which is actually being practiced by the present generation of Pakistan that the religion is only the name of certain beliefs and it defines how to worship God without any practical application of it but Iqbal does not restrict to beliefs and form of worship regarding the notion of religion. 

    o He further adds that in an ideal situation there no importance is given to aristocracy or hierarchy but the younger generation promotes the status quo. Further, he negates the idea that cultural promotion is only related to Muslim values in Pakistan. Likewise, he condemns Mountbatten for his ignoring attitude towards the Quaid's demands. In addition, he explains the act of violence and killings at the time of separation which was not expected. 


    Discussion of the Replacement of Mistaken Beliefs

    The author also addresses the mistaken beliefs which need to be replaced. For example, from our data, we can discuss that Iqbal's voice was not only for the formation of an independent state but also to help people grow mentally independent because the difference between non-Muslims and Muslims is not only religious but it depicts different attitudes towards life. Due to which, the survival of Muslims was not possible in a the Hindu dominated society. 


    Analysis of Mistaken Expectations

    This section discusses the mistaken expectations which were not met at the time of separation. For example, from the analysis (see section 5.1.3), we can conclude that according to the narrator

    o People were expecting the injustice form the British which were in the authority to leave their control but the circumstances didn't allow them to maintain their control.

    o The major concern after the colonialists left the land was the adaptation of Western democracy which was against the expectations. The expectation was that the country would exercise those norms on the societal level suggested by Islam. Further, Pakistan's compensation to US was also proved to be a trouble for the Pakistani state. 

    Analysis of Adjusting and Aspectual

    This section discusses how the author presents the narrator his stance in a clear way by using linguistic tools such as merely, just etc. we can conclude that

    o The difference between Muslims and non-Muslims doesn't lie in religion only.

    o For Iqbal, religion is more than certain beliefs and worship.

    The examples explore the fact that the identification of the separate traits was not made by the colonials.

    Discussion of Elaboration 

    The readers’ alignment is made successful by elaboration of certain notions which in result clarify the stance and the purpose of awareness. 


    Group/Phrase Elaboration

    o What type of country Pakistan is and what type of political environment has been constructed here. The corruption has targeted the powerless and supported the person in power.  


    Clause Elaboration

    o Such kind of elaborations describe Pakistani people regarding their strengths and what type of nation they have been transformed into. Further, he explains that we were supposed to be free people to discover the true Islamic culture which was practiced in the subcontinent before the arrival of colonialists. 


    Sentence Elaboration

    o Here, the author embarks on the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and elaborates on the cause of death by expressing the notion that it was he who left Kashmir divided and left Pakistan fighting against India to take it back. 


    Analysis of Clause as Extension

    For the accumulation of meanings, the narrator has extended the clauses and has foregrounded the meanings. For example, the following notions reinforce his point of view.

    o People were made free to live under social and economic justice and observe equality (justifying the motto of his own political party). 

    o The Pakistan nation is one of those nations that has destroyed itself by moving away from its ideals (influential political figures).

    Discussions of Recontextualization

    Here, we discuss the pictorial portrayal made by the narrator. The picture given on the left shows the people migrating from India to Pakistan. The black and white print (Kress and Leeuwan, 1996) reflects the historical reference in order to remind people that the land on which they are living is achieved by the sacrifices of those people who have lost their lives even. The other picture presents the back view of the addressor, addressing the huge crowd enthusiastically. The banners and the flags in the picture present the promotion of a political party. Furthermore, the addressor's gesture suggests that he has in high motivation and spirit to run a political party. 

    The two pictures given portray a different story. On one side, people are willing to sacrifice their lives to attain a separate homeland while on the other side, we see the symbol of protest being made against the corruption which has ruined the country. The contrast between the choice of colours also evokes the kind of realization that the country which is easily being ruined by the corrupt leaders, was attained by sacrificing blood. In the image, the vectors represent the recount in which the narrator has negotiated awareness of what kind of political climate was built by the corrupt politicians throughout the years. Further, in the left-hand triptych, the connection between the ideal and reality has been shown. In this triptych, a semantic contrast between the government and its corrupt acts can be explored. Above the figure narrator talks about his protest against the corrupt politicians and below the figure, he describes the unjust and inequality practiced by the political leaders and then the news shows his determination to stop the corrupt politicians. Linking the two messages can be taken as a hybrid idea in which a political leader is shown protesting against the corrupt politicians (old) or directing a mass on how to cope with the situation (new). 

    Those notions recontextualise the ideas in reference to the history of Pakistan and invite the reader to re-invoke the historical context and compare it with the present situation. 

    Macro-genre Analysis

    Taking a text as a macro-genre reveals a notion that text is linked logically and technically because the short genres are extracted from the text (Martin and Rose, 2008). In other words, this macro-genre contains many micro genres, which are logically connected to each other in order to fulfil the desired purpose. Thus, the micro genres are made coherent and more technically connected. In this section, the logical links between the micro genres have been explored which in result make a personal historical recount of Imran Khan Pakistan. This part of the analysis contains the following sections.

    a) Generic analysis of Prologue

    b) Generic analysis of chapters

    c) Generic analysis of epilogue


    Generic Analysis of Prologue

    The prologue of 'Imran Khan Pakistan: A personal History' contains two types of genres.

    1) Autobiographical genre

    2) Biographical genre


    Autobiographical Genre

    As mentioned above, the text belongs to the genre of personal recount history, the prologue of the book is autobiographical and expresses the scenario of Pakistan after the 9/11 scenario. Thus, prologue composes a factual story (autobiographical recount) recounting life events (Rose, 2006). Therefore, data is analyzed in order to highlight how temporal conjunctions (i.e. then, later, after, when etc) and modifiers (i.e. on the second night) are used to connect the series of events. These temporal conjunctions and ordinal modifiers are used in order to scaffold life events (Martin and Rose, 2008). In the examples given below, the highlighted words are temporal conjunctions and ordinal modifiers.


    Examples for Temporal Conjunctions

    The time has been managed through the expressions of temporal conjunctions which are linked to the time in which the narrator has discussed previously. In other words, these temporal conjunctions are connected to the initial positions regarded as the theme (Martin & Rose, 2008). 

    Later on, I discovered the plan had been to beat us all up […]. As soon as I appeared, other students in the university gathered around me […] that is when I kept saying […] While the police came in and searched our family home. After he took a stand against them […] Since 2005, I have in my farmhouse...


    Examples for Ordinal Modifiers

    In order to scaffold the life stages the ordinal modifiers are added (e.g. last, couple, first time, second night, sixth day) in order to unfold the stages of life to the readers. In the following are some examples of such type. 

    Since last night we have been in touch with these guys....

    A couple of years after my unpleasant experience.....


    Evaluation of Autobiographical Data

    The data is analysed to find out the degree of the writer's inclination towards a certain notion. These contrasting ideas are presented in the prologue containing lexicons (i.e. street thugs, mafia etc. for opponents named as Islamic Jamiat-e-Tuleba and king, sympathetic, polite for the expression of realization that in Pakistan there is a difference between treatment done to the normal person and a public figure). The Table 1.1. below the clauses show positive or the negative evaluation 

    Table 3

    Describing the Positive and Negative Evaluation done in an Autobiographical Recount

    Sentence Number

    Positive Evaluation

    Negative Evaluation

    1.

     

    Yet here, these students were working for a dictator......behaving like a gang of street thugs.

    2.

    Once known for their ideological views and great discipline,

    they appear to have degenerated into a kind of mafia or fascist group operating inside the university. Bearing guns and beating people up.

    3.

     

    That was aimed at stopping me from staging a protest against the US president because of his hypocrisy in supporting Musharraf, a military dictator, while invading Iraq with the justification of installing democracy.

    7

    Normally the police were very polite to me.

    This time their manner was more aggressive.

    8

    There was no mention of house arrest,

    but rather the ‘orders’ for my detention.

    9.

    It was only then that I realized how narrowly I had escaped.

     

    In the light of the given Examples, we can conclude here that the writer expresses solidarity in order to align the reader and get his stance clear through the help of evaluating events positively or negatively of his own life. Those events which are in the favour of the narrator are evaluated positively (e.g. his house or the residential area, the attitude of the police, his own identity, the protest against the Jimiat and the way women were treated in Pakistan society). The events in which the actions were taken against the narrator, unjust behaviours (i.e. humiliating attempts), and the portrayal of the opposite party have been represented through negative evaluation. 

    Cause and Effect Relationship

    Some clauses and sentences in this autobiographical text contain the cause and effect relationship depicting particular circumstance types. In the following examples, the conjunctions (e.g. so, because) are highlighted as the conjunctions portraying the circumstances.  

    o ‘I knew the police would probably arrest me when I arrived at the university, so I sneaked in the evening before. 

    o That was aimed at stopping me […] because of his hypocrisy in supporting a military dictator. 

    o In the examples above, the causal relationship has been made in order to establish a link between the actions and events, and to highlight the reasons for the readers. Thus, the narrator is helping them to figure out the influential follies on the side of mafias.


    Biographical Genre

    The second last paragraph of the prologue belongs to the genre of biography in which particular experiences are portrayed instead of events by locating time. Thus, there is an absence of successive events. This generic analysis builds on the following patterns.


    Circumstantial Location of time as a Theme

    The second last paragraph of the prologue belongs to the biographical genre, in which the narrator is describing events with the help of circumstances of a particular location in time as a theme in the clause, rather than using conjunctions (Martin and Rose, 2008). In the examples mentioned below, the lexical items locating time are highlighted.

    o If he had been convicted, the maximum penalty would have been a year. He had been in jail for six years. 

    o [.... ]a man was found not guilty after spending nine years locked up; when he was arrested at the age of twenty, he had a wife and a year-old baby.

    o And yet many years some of the biggest criminals in the country were sitting in parliament.

    Cause and effect relationship

    In this biographical genre, there is an explicit indication of the cause and effect relationship between clauses which is signalled by so, because, for in the following examples.

    He had not even been tired for the crime for which he was arrested. 

    He had been in jail for six years because the family was too poor to afford a lawyer. 

    ....police van meant to take a prisoner to court frequently failed to turn up so they missed their court hearing. 

    The cause and effect pattern represents the linkage between the events happening around the common people to endorse the author’s stance. 


    Evaluation of Biographical Data

    The evaluation of data engrosses the linguistic choices which depict the emotions of the oppressed people. The attitudinal choices are found in the expressions which have a negative connotation. Table no.1.2 below contains some examples of the same. 

    Table 4

    Describing the Positive and Negative Evaluation done by Writer in Biographical Recount

    Number

    Positive Evaluation

    Negative Evaluation

    1

     

    He had not even been tired for the crime for which he was arrested.

    2

     

    If he had been convicted, the maximum penalty would have been a year.

    3

     

    ....the authorities did not even bother to send him a police van to take him there.

    4

     

    Sixty per cent of people in Pakistani jails were innocents, he said.

    5

     

    Their crime was their poverty.

    6

     

    That was the biggest impact jail had on me.

    7

     

    Seeing these people crammed in together horrified me.

    8

     

    Some of them had been framed.

    9

     

    ....the head jailer made money by charging the relatives if they wanted to see a prisoner.

    10

     

    And yet many of the biggest criminals in the country were sitting in the parliament.

    The biographical events are portrayed through negative connotations. In other words, the author expresses solidarity with the suppressed to arouse sympathy in the readers. So this way, he promotes his own stance (Martin, 2006). 


    Generic Analysis of the Chapters

    The purpose of this part of the data analysis was to explore the relationship between the short genres (micro-genres) which in turn makes macro genres in the prologue of the book. But further relations can be significantly analyzed through Halliday's logico-semantic system to establish the type and manner of coherence in the text (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014). As mentioned above, the data has been collected for a macro genre (personal historical recount) which contains micro genres (i.e. autobiographical recount, historical recount, biographical account, exemplum, exposition, discussion, descriptive report etc). As the book is too large to the genre of recounting the personal history of Pakistan therefore, further exploration into the chapters' patterns can better help the readers to significantly understand the embedded stance. 

    Conclusion

    In the light of the analysis and discussion, we can conclude that the book 'Imran Khan Pakistan: A personal History' is generically constructed in such a way that it achieves the writing purpose as well as helps to induce the ideology of the writer. The readers' perception has been evoked through the solidarity with them by portraying unjust behaviours of the ruling elite toward the masses. In other words, the evaluation of the historical, biographical and autobiographical events has proved to be a rich source of the readers' alignment with the narrator's ideology.

     The micro study has proved that the prologue contains those historical events which are not referred to the past merely but are also connected with the present scenario through the writer's voice. Furthermore, the study has shown that the recount selected for the microanalysis, how the readers are being realigned with the help of elaboration and extension of the certain proposition ultimately, construes meanings. In addition, the analysis and discussions of engagement (see Section 5.2.3) shows how the writer vividly presents his stance which proves him to be in power (Martin, 2006). Moreover, through the language of abstraction, the author has made the descriptions more vivid (see Section 5.1.1). The discussion on the enlightenment (see Section 5.1.2) shows how the two worlds have been construed and presented for the readership and that the recontextualization (see Section 5.1.4) proves how the historical events have been organized in order to support the argumentation and stance of the author in the present time. 

    The macro generic analysis (see Section 5.3) shows how the text is organized and cohesively connected to make it influential and impactful. The logical connections between the series of the historical, biographical and autobiographical events have been put generically together in such a way that those sections prove to be significant in realigning the reader with the narrator's ideology, thus proving the writer to be in power. Finally, this study has explored that the writer induces information and in return, demands support for his party. 

References

  • Bhatia, V. K. (2012). Critical reflections on genre analysis. Ibérica, (24), 17-28.
  • Bhatia, V. K., & Nodoushan, S. (2015). Genre Analysis: The State of the Art (An Online Interview with Vijay Kumar Bhatia). Online Submission, 9(2), 121-130.
  • Cheng, A. (2021). The place of language in the theoretical tenets, textbooks, and classroom practices in the ESP genre-based approach to teaching writing. English for Specific Purposes, 64, 26-36.
  • Dixon, P., & Bortolussi, M. (2009). Readers' knowledge of popular genre. Discourse Processes, 46(6), 541-571
  • Fracis, H, & Hallam, S. (2000). Genre effects on higher education student's text reading for understanding'. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands. Higher Education, 39,279-296.
  • Halliday, M. A. K, & Mathiessen, M. I. M. (2014). Halliday's Introduction to Functional Grammar. Roultledge Publications.
  • Halliday, M. A. K. (1971). Linguistic function and literary style: An inquiry into the language of William Golding's
  • Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. London: Edward Arnold.
  • Halliday, M. A.K. & Matthiessen, C. M. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar. London: Arnold.
  • Halliday, M.A.K. (1993b). Language in a Changing World. Canberra, ACT: Applied Linguistics Association of Australia.
  • Khan, I. (2011). Imran Khan Pakistan: A personal History. Pakistan: Bantam press.
  • Kress, G. & Leeuwen, V. (1996). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. Psychology Press
  • Martin, J. R. & Wodak, R. (eds) (2004). Re/reading the past: Critical and Functional Perspectives on Discourses of History. Amsterdam: Benjamins
  • Martin, J. R. (1985). Factual Writing: Exploring and Challenging Social Reality. Geelong, Vic.: Deakin University Press. [republished by Oxford University Press, 1989].
  • Martin, J. R. (1995a). Interpersonal meaning, persuasion and public discourse: Packing semiotic punch. Australian Journal of Linguistics 15(1), 33-67.
  • Martin, J. R. (1998a). Discourses of science: genesis, intertextuality and hegemony. In J.R. Martin and R. Veel (eds) Reading Science: critical and functional perspectives on discourses of science. London: Routledge. 3-14.
  • Martin, J. R. (1999). Grace: The Logogenesis of Freedom. Discourse Studies, 1(1), 29-56.
  • Martin, J. R. (1999a). Mentoring semogenesis: 'genre-based' literacy pedagogy. In F. Christie (ed.) Pedagogy and the Shaping of Consciousness: linguistic and social processes 123-55. (Open Linguistics Series) London: Cassell.
  • Martin, J. R. (2001b). Giving the game away: explicitness, diversity and genre-based literacy in Australia. In R. de Cilla, H. Krumm & R. Wodak (eds.), Functional Il/ literacy. Vienna: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akadamie der Wissenschaften. 155-74.
  • Martin, J. R. (2001c). Fair trade: negotiating meaning in multimodal. The Semiotics of Writing: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on the Technology of Writing. Brepols (Semiotic & Cognitive Studies X). 311-38.
  • Martin, J. R. (2001d). A context for genre: modelling social processes in functional linguistics. In R. Stainton and J. Devilliers (eds) Communication in Linguistics. Toronto: GREF (Collection Theoria). 1-41.
  • Martin, J. R. (2004). Positive discourse analysis: power, solidarity and change. Revista Canaria de EstudiosIngleses, 49, 179-200
  • Martin, J. R. (2006). Genre, ideology and intertextuality: a systemic functional perspective. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 2(2), 275-298.
  • Martin, J. R. (2007). Comment. World Englishes, 26(1), 83-85.
  • Martin, J. R. & Rose. D. (2008). Genre Relations. Mapping Culture. Equinox Publishing Ltd.
  • Martin, J. R., & Stenglin, M. (2006). Materialising reconciliation: negotiating difference in a post-colonial exhibition. In T. Royce & W. Bowcher (Eds.), New Directions in the Analysis of Multimodal Discourse. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Martin, J. R., & White, P. R. R. (2005). Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Rose, D. (2007). Reading Genre: A New Wave of Analysis. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 2(2).
  • White, P. (1997). Death, disruption and the moral order: The narrative impulse in mass hard news reporting. Genre and Institutions: Social Processes in the Workplace and School. Ed. F. Christie & J.R. Martin. London: Cassell, 101- 133.

Cite this article

    CHICAGO : Tehseem, Tazanfal, Saba Zulfiqar, and Rabia Faiz. 2022. "Reviewing Power Politics and Populism in IK's Pakistan: A Personal History." Global Political Review, VII (I): 48-63 doi: 10.31703/gpr.2022(VII-I).06
    HARVARD : TEHSEEM, T., ZULFIQAR, S. & FAIZ, R. 2022. Reviewing Power Politics and Populism in IK's Pakistan: A Personal History. Global Political Review, VII, 48-63.
    MHRA : Tehseem, Tazanfal, Saba Zulfiqar, and Rabia Faiz. 2022. "Reviewing Power Politics and Populism in IK's Pakistan: A Personal History." Global Political Review, VII: 48-63
    MLA : Tehseem, Tazanfal, Saba Zulfiqar, and Rabia Faiz. "Reviewing Power Politics and Populism in IK's Pakistan: A Personal History." Global Political Review, VII.I (2022): 48-63 Print.
    OXFORD : Tehseem, Tazanfal, Zulfiqar, Saba, and Faiz, Rabia (2022), "Reviewing Power Politics and Populism in IK's Pakistan: A Personal History", Global Political Review, VII (I), 48-63
    TURABIAN : Tehseem, Tazanfal, Saba Zulfiqar, and Rabia Faiz. "Reviewing Power Politics and Populism in IK's Pakistan: A Personal History." Global Political Review VII, no. I (2022): 48-63. https://doi.org/10.31703/gpr.2022(VII-I).06