Identity of Pashtuns and Orientalist Generalizations: A Critical Study of Husseni’s The Kite Runner and Shamsie’s A God in Every Stone

Abstract

The representation of Pashtuns has been a subject of media discourses and scholarly debates. Their identity is generally caricatured and stereotyped by the interested sections for their vested interest and they are depicted as violent, savage, warmongers and uncivilized people. The present study critically analyzes such stereotyped image and essentialzed identity of Pashtuns in Kamila Shamsie’s A God in Every Stone (2014) and Khaled Husseni’s The Kite Runner (2003).  The study contends that the image of Pashtuns created in the novels is caricatured and stereotyped. The study is qualitative and conducted under the theoretical framework of Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) and supported by the cultural and historical materials about Pashtuns. The study concludes that the representation in the novels is an attempt of the racial profiling of Pashtuns and constructing their stereotyped identity which is based on the orientalist generalizations about them.