The practice by Pakistani women of reading anglophone romance-genre novels set in Regency-era England is rooted in the cultural memory of their colonial past. The Regency-era past provides a credible space for the romantic imagination that takes on distinctive postcolonial nuances in Pakistan. The readers involved in this research shared a fascination with the buildings around them that were constructed during the British Raj, and the experience of reading old, browned copies of Georgette Heyer novels. The materiality of the romance genre in Pakistan informs and reinforces readers’ disposition to regard Regency-era historical novels as sociocultural capital. The study elaborates that these readers create a form of positive postcolonial nostalgia by finding parallels between Regency-era England and aspects of contemporary Pakistani society. This perceived similarity is rooted in the patriarchal social structures and archaic cultural practices that persist in 21st-century Pakistan, making the historical setting more relatable to them.
I'll leave the following quotes from the article without page numbers because when I was writing this entry the article was still online only, so didn't have the page numbers I assumed it would have once it was incorporated into a volume.
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This study is divided into two major sections, of which the first explains the connection between the social, cultural, and economic class of the readers and their collective national memory of the colonial history of their geographical location, which is largely shaped by the mandatory Pakistan studies courses taught in schools nationwide, oral histories of the colonial era, and a taste for reading anglophone genre romance. The second section provides a detailed analysis of the invention of the past by Pakistani readers through memory figures of Austen, the materiality of books, and architectural manifestations of the British Empire in Pakistan. Overall, the responses of the Pakistani readers who participated in my research project show that urban women belonging to the elite and upper-middle class blend their invented colonial past, the actual Regency era in England, and the memory figures from their personal and national history with the Regency past fabricated by contemporary anglophone authors of popular romance novels, writing for an assumed anglophone audience. This way of reading on the part of the readers elevates the typically lowbrow romance genre, transforming it into an almost literary reading practice, highlighting the significant connection between memories, postcolonial histories, and popular reading cultures.
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The present study investigates the Pakistani women’s romance reading community in an unusual, non-anglophone reception context, nearly three decades after the publication of Radway’s seminal work. It examines the responses of more than 100 Pakistani readers of the Regency subgenre in 21st-century Pakistan through focus groups. While these Pakistani readers share similarities with Radway’s Smithton women in their discussion of Regency historical romance novels, they differ because their reading occurs in a postcolonial, non-western setting.
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students from public schools have no clear avenue through which to gain the cultural capital which stems from the ease and familiarity with English that grants continuous privilege to the educated elite and the upper-middle class. The Regency historical subgenre holds a middlebrow cultural status in the country, as its readers view these novels as representing refined social values and as demonstrating a selective, elevated class-oriented taste in reading.
The class and colonial backgrounds of the Pakistani readers of Regency historical romance novels influence their genre preference and guide their genre competence. Because of their elite English-medium schooling, women in this reading community have a liberal and progressive social identity, as opposed to the conservative religious identity that is promoted in state-run Urdu-medium schools.
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The readers who responded to the questionnaire designed for this study were highly educated women who lived in the major urban centres of Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar, and Sialkot. Out of 108 respondents, 57 readers live in Lahore, 28 in Islamabad, 15 in Karachi, five in Peshawar, and three in Sialkot. The data of responses were skewed towards a higher level of qualification, including 87 respondents who were either enrolled in postgraduate degree programmes or had already received their degrees. Fifty-six readers fell into the given age bracket of 30–40 years, while 35 women were above the age of 40, and 17 women selected the 51+ years option. To summarize, the demographic information collected through the closed-ended questionnaire shows that the majority of the readers of Regency historical romances in Pakistan who responded to the survey are predominantly highly educated women above 30 years of age, who mostly live in urban centres.
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the majority of the respondents (87/108) agreed that the fabricated Regency-era past in their preferred texts is relevant to the present reality of their everyday existence. They drew parallels between the Regency-era past and contemporary Pakistani society because both have a “similar social structure and marriage mart and gender roles” (R-5), which are “fake” (R-10), and where “shame is always attached to the ‘morals’ of the woman” (R-24). Some readers gave more elaborate responses.
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the readers’ engagement with Regency novels not only offers an escape to an imagined past, but also sharpens their awareness of the lingering effects of colonization on their cultural and geographical identity. As R-107 notes, remnants of British influence persist in Pakistan’s architecture, legal system, and even language, underscoring the deep-rooted colonial legacy.
Here's the abstract:
I'll leave the following quotes from the article without page numbers because when I was writing this entry the article was still online only, so didn't have the page numbers I assumed it would have once it was incorporated into a volume.
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