Towards Peoples’ Histories in Pakistan: (In)audible Voices, Forgotten Pasts

What would Walter Benjamin have made of Pakistan? One might imagine the German critic, a famous collector, in one of Saddar's busy bazaars, his arms full of handicrafts and other souvenirs. We know from Benjamin's archives that he regularly sent postcards—would he be drawn to purchase images of Mazaar-e-Quaid? Mohenjodaro? Shahi Qila? Would the shopping malls of Islamabad prompt any comparisons to the Parisian arcades to which he devoted so much attention? Would Benjamin's interest in mysticism draw him to Sehwan Sharif or Data Darbar?Benjamin died on September 26, 1940, in Portbou, Spain, fleeing the Vichy regime in France. It would be another seven years before new borders were drawn across the South Asian subcontinent to create Pakistan. Indeed, it…