Institutional Collusion and State Apparatuses: A Foucauldian Analysis of Jamal Abro's Pirani & Other Short Stories (2017)

Abstract

The present study explores the collusion of the state institutions, legal apparatus and local power networks that are used to exercise biopower in Pirani & Other Short Stories (2017), a collection of short stories by Jamal Abro. The main objective of this research is to dissect the functioning of the various administrative institutions, judicial systems, police and medical institutions, which come together to control, discipline and regulate human populations in rural Sindh. This paper adopts a qualitative interpretive research design based on the theories of Michel Foucault on biopower, disciplinary power and state apparatuses, which goes beyond the traditional thematic analysis of state corruption as a failure of ethics and/or governance. The study has been done in four stages of textual analysis: close reading, thematic coding, identification of discursive elements and theoretical synthesis, which has led to the exploration of the systemic subjugation of subaltern subjects in the text. The results show that institutional collusion can be seen as a localized administrative machine that, through regulatory surveillance, spatial containment and legal manipulation, helps to uphold the hegemony of the ruling class and leaves bodies of the margins to strategic abandonment and systemic vulnerability. This research is an important critical approach to comprehending the ways literature maps the institutional power and political management of life.