TRACING VIOLENCE, TERRORISM, AND URBAN SPACES IN OMAR SHAHID HAMID'S THE PRISONER: A RE-ORIENTALIST PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This study examines Omar Shahid Hamid's novel The Prisoner (2013) through a re-orientalist lens, focusing on the depiction of violence, terrorism, and changing dynamics of urban spaces within the socio-political structure of Karachi. While The Prisoner appears to offer an insider's view of the crime-ridden streets of Karachi and their intricate electricity dynamics, it additionally raises questions about re-orientalist tendencies in Post-9/11 Pakistani Anglophone literature. Intersecting the themes of corruption, conspiracy, and the portrayal of Islamophobia, this study examines how Hamid misrepresents contemporary Pakistan and reinforces Western discourses by homogenizing urban ills and Islamic extremism. The study also examines how Hamid's reputation as an insider (as a former policeman) lends an air of authenticity to the narrative while reinforcing familiar tropes regularly associated with contemporary Pakistan in the Western media. The study also highlights the intersections of authenticity, representation, and re-orientalism in Hamid's narrative, the harshly assumed objectivity of neighborhood narratives, while also exploring the cultural politics behind the development of "terror" and "violence" in urban areas.