Socio-Cultural and Historico-Political Crisis in Harris Khalique's "Between You and Your Love"

Abstract

This paper examines the socio-cultural and political crisis in Between You and Your Love (2012) by the Pakistani Anglophone poet Harris Khalique.Employing Greenblatt's concepts of new historicism as a theoretical framework, this research attempts to establish the embedment of the selected verses in Pakistani society. As the selected poetry collection has not been analyzed through the lens of new historicism, this research will also fill this gap. The study reveals that the people of Karachi have been facing ethnocultural violence, sectarian clashes, and native-migrant conflicts since the inception of Pakistan. The shrinking space for cultural expression and thriving terrorism due to politico-sectarian division on the one hand, and Pakistan's involvement in the War on terror in the context of 9/11 on the other hand, have pushed the country into a perpetual state of crisis. Khalique has given voice to such dire issues related to regional identities and marginalized communities who are either not represented or misrepresented in the official narrative.