Introduction

This chapter introduces the main premise of the book that is to ‘locate’ and theorize about the place of the posthuman (particularly technological agency) within the postcolonial culture of Pakistan through a critical analysis of contemporary Pakistani Anglophone fiction. It outlines the objectives, methodology, theoretical framework, scope, and significance of the study, and identifies the core novelists examined in the book: Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin Hamid, Nadeem Aslam, and Uzma Aslam Khan. The chapter offers a concise overview of posthuman and postcolonial studies in order to establish the intellectual, political, and ethical grounds for combining these fields to initiate sustained critical dialogue in these disciplines. It highlights the urgent need to rethink postcolonial literature through posthuman frameworks, particularly with regard to the material realities of technological mediation, warfare, mobility, and environmental precarity in the Global South. At the same time, it contests the Euro-American dominance of posthumanist discourse and stresses the necessity to expand the range of posthuman inquiry by carrying out locally grounded studies in nonwestern contexts. For this purpose, it proposes a new theoretical framework that combines insights from Homi K. Bhabha, Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway, and Karen Barad for the posthuman reading of postcolonial texts. Overall, the chapter establishes the conceptual foundations and develops a critical trajectory for the critical debates presented throughout the book.