ISSUING THE NATION: POSTAGE STAMPS, STATE LEADERSHIP, AND THEMATIC SHIFTS IN PAKISTAN 1947–2023

Abstract

This study analyzes the presence of postage stamps as political artifacts in Pakistan. Significantly, the study examines how stamps provide a historically filtered snapshot of Pakistan’s leaders along with its evolving national identity from 1947-2023. The paper combines quantitative data regarding the number of stamps produced with qualitative methods involving semiotic analysis. This combination of data allows the paper to elaborate how and why Pakistan’s leaders have used stamps to pursue and disseminate specific and various socio-political ideologies. The paper comparatively analyzes stamps issued by post-independence governments to argue that stamps have served propagandistic functions. The paper argues that stamps have served to create and promote a dominant state identity and have served to create a state narrative that has glorified Pakistan's place in the world while evading and reframing Pakistan's place in world history with its present and past failures. Through an analysis of visual signifiers, the study argues that stamps serve as a historical narrative of Pakistan’s leaders’ diverse attempts (failed and successful) to maintain political legitimacy.