April 24, 2023
As she started her colloquium presentation, Sanaa Alimia, Assistant Professor at the Aga Khan
University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilization, took a breath. “When you arrive in the
U.S., it always takes a minute,” she said. “Over the past forty years, the U.S. and an
accompanying global military industrial complex has had an imprint on the lives of the people I
work with.”
University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilization, took a breath. “When you arrive in the
U.S., it always takes a minute,” she said. “Over the past forty years, the U.S. and an
accompanying global military industrial complex has had an imprint on the lives of the people I
work with.”
Alimia’s South Asian Studies Councilcolloquium explored the subject matter of Refugee Cities:
How Afghans Changed Urban Pakistan (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022), her recently
published book on the lives and stories of Afghan refugees in Pakistan over more than forty
years. She was introduced by Madiha Tahir, Assistant Professor of American Studies. The
colloquium was attended by 30 people in a hybrid format.
How Afghans Changed Urban Pakistan (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022), her recently
published book on the lives and stories of Afghan refugees in Pakistan over more than forty
years. She was introduced by Madiha Tahir, Assistant Professor of American Studies. The
colloquium was attended by 30 people in a hybrid format.
Alimia began her presentation with an explanation of her own journey to her work, situating
Refugee Cities in relation to a desire to decenter geopolitics from above and move away from the
“vantage of empire” in studying the fallouts of war for countries and people, especially the effect
of war on urbanization, citizenship, and mobility. She critiqued the ways in which “Afghanistan
often appears especially orientalized and stuck in time” in both Western and South Asian
writing, and contrasted this with the work of refugee studies on studying affective attachment
and the ways in which Afghan refugees in Pakistan experience belonging in urban settings
despite still waiting to return “home.”
Refugee Cities in relation to a desire to decenter geopolitics from above and move away from the
“vantage of empire” in studying the fallouts of war for countries and people, especially the effect
of war on urbanization, citizenship, and mobility. She critiqued the ways in which “Afghanistan
often appears especially orientalized and stuck in time” in both Western and South Asian
writing, and contrasted this with the work of refugee studies on studying affective attachment
and the ways in which Afghan refugees in Pakistan experience belonging in urban settings
despite still waiting to return “home.”
Turning to her own work, Alimia offered an anecdote about Rahimullah, an Afghan refugee in
Peshawar who she interacted with several times over the course of her fieldwork. “Rahimullah
waits,” she said, describing the process by which Rahimullah, who had lived in Pakistan for over
40 years, finds work and a place in Peshawar’s urban context. Alimia used Rahimullah’s
example to explore the ways in which refugees find belonging in Pakistan’s cities in a way that is
not possible elsewhere in the country because of the constraints imposed by conceptions of
Pakistan as a nation-state. While doing so, Alimia traced the connections refugees form to urban
environments that they are often responsible for expanding and creating through both their labor
and their very presence. The sentiment she describes was best expressed by Aziz, an Afghan
refugee engineer who told Alimia, “We built this city” about Peshawar. Alimia summed up her
initial presentation with the contentions that “Afghans are home” in Pakistan and that they are
silently transforming Pakistan’s urban landscapes alongside their class compatriots. She
explained that this can be problematic because Pakistani government policy means geopolitics
can never be separated from Afghan bodies in Pakistan, pointing to the ways in which Afghans
have been welcome at times when they are useful and unwelcome when they are not (as in 2021,
after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan). She ended by arguing that the legality of Afghan
refugees still matters and that the question of their position in Afghanistan raises questions about
citizenship and belonging that may play out differently in the Global South than the Global
North.
Peshawar who she interacted with several times over the course of her fieldwork. “Rahimullah
waits,” she said, describing the process by which Rahimullah, who had lived in Pakistan for over
40 years, finds work and a place in Peshawar’s urban context. Alimia used Rahimullah’s
example to explore the ways in which refugees find belonging in Pakistan’s cities in a way that is
not possible elsewhere in the country because of the constraints imposed by conceptions of
Pakistan as a nation-state. While doing so, Alimia traced the connections refugees form to urban
environments that they are often responsible for expanding and creating through both their labor
and their very presence. The sentiment she describes was best expressed by Aziz, an Afghan
refugee engineer who told Alimia, “We built this city” about Peshawar. Alimia summed up her
initial presentation with the contentions that “Afghans are home” in Pakistan and that they are
silently transforming Pakistan’s urban landscapes alongside their class compatriots. She
explained that this can be problematic because Pakistani government policy means geopolitics
can never be separated from Afghan bodies in Pakistan, pointing to the ways in which Afghans
have been welcome at times when they are useful and unwelcome when they are not (as in 2021,
after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan). She ended by arguing that the legality of Afghan
refugees still matters and that the question of their position in Afghanistan raises questions about
citizenship and belonging that may play out differently in the Global South than the Global
North.
Alimia’s opening presentation was followed by an in-depth discussion about various aspects of
her work. Tahir opened the conversation with a question to Alimia about the stakes of shifting
discussions about Afghan refugees to microhistory and the small scale, to which Alimia
responded with a discussion of her desire to challenge elite narratives of Pakistan and
Afghanistan and her belief that politics is everywhere, including in everyday conversations she
heard about the challenges affecting refugees’ lives. She discussed one example of that
phenomenon with a reference to an informal refugee camp in Karachi where residents clearly
traced levels of interest in their condition and their access to water and healthcare to the
prevailing geopolitical conditions.
discussions about Afghan refugees to microhistory and the small scale, to which Alimia
responded with a discussion of her desire to challenge elite narratives of Pakistan and
Afghanistan and her belief that politics is everywhere, including in everyday conversations she
heard about the challenges affecting refugees’ lives. She discussed one example of that
phenomenon with a reference to an informal refugee camp in Karachi where residents clearly
traced levels of interest in their condition and their access to water and healthcare to the
prevailing geopolitical conditions.
Tahir’s question was followed by a series of questions about the specificities of Rahimullah’s
condition; differences in the relationship of refugees to the cities and communities they lived in
and alongside; and perceptions of Afghan refugees’ belonging. Alimia discussed how Afghans in
places like Karachi would often tell her “Ham Karachi ke hain [We are from Karachi].” She said
that in spite of attempts by the Pakistani state to differentiate them from Pakistanis and despite an
awareness by their neighbors of different legal statuses, Afghans shared neighborhoods with
people of a variety of ethnicities. These inter-ethnic groupings collectively articulated shared
senses of belonging and entitlement built not on ethnicity but on insaani haq (human rights) and
the feeling that since they had built the cities in which they lived, they deserved certain rights.
Alimia explained that the residents of katchi abadis (shanty towns) would work together to
address shared challenges, but also that the localized sovereignty formed by such populations
was always atomized and required the intervention of a middleman or the state sovereign.
A further set of questions discussed the surveillance and economic management of Afghan
refugees, with Alimia comparing their treatment to the treatment of the legally Pakistani
population. Alimia emphasized the recognition by the state that Afghan refugees are
economically important, but explained that that recognition existed in tension with narratives and
terror and security preferred by the military establishment. The conversation concluded with a
question from Tahir about why Alimia had wanted, as a non-Afghan, to work on Afghan
refugees. Alimia responded that she felt Pakistanis had an obligation to pay attention to such a
large group within the country and that she hoped to create spaces within and outside of the
academy where she is not the only voice working on or having the authority to speak about
Afghans in Pakistan.
condition; differences in the relationship of refugees to the cities and communities they lived in
and alongside; and perceptions of Afghan refugees’ belonging. Alimia discussed how Afghans in
places like Karachi would often tell her “Ham Karachi ke hain [We are from Karachi].” She said
that in spite of attempts by the Pakistani state to differentiate them from Pakistanis and despite an
awareness by their neighbors of different legal statuses, Afghans shared neighborhoods with
people of a variety of ethnicities. These inter-ethnic groupings collectively articulated shared
senses of belonging and entitlement built not on ethnicity but on insaani haq (human rights) and
the feeling that since they had built the cities in which they lived, they deserved certain rights.
Alimia explained that the residents of katchi abadis (shanty towns) would work together to
address shared challenges, but also that the localized sovereignty formed by such populations
was always atomized and required the intervention of a middleman or the state sovereign.
A further set of questions discussed the surveillance and economic management of Afghan
refugees, with Alimia comparing their treatment to the treatment of the legally Pakistani
population. Alimia emphasized the recognition by the state that Afghan refugees are
economically important, but explained that that recognition existed in tension with narratives and
terror and security preferred by the military establishment. The conversation concluded with a
question from Tahir about why Alimia had wanted, as a non-Afghan, to work on Afghan
refugees. Alimia responded that she felt Pakistanis had an obligation to pay attention to such a
large group within the country and that she hoped to create spaces within and outside of the
academy where she is not the only voice working on or having the authority to speak about
Afghans in Pakistan.
Byline: Daevan Mangalmurti