POLITICAL POSTERS IN KARACHI, 1988–1999

Abstract

This article examines the circulation of political posters and painted images in Karachi, Pakistan during the democratic interlude of 1988–1999 by reading images of key political players – General Zia, Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto, and Altaf Hussain. Popular imagery in part drew upon existing nationalist visual tropes, but activities of diverse non‐state actors gathered significant momentum during this crisis‐laden period, and political images also acquired a fluid and dynamic character. These images instantiate contestations and cross‐linkages between the popular visual realm and the wider social fabric, and cannot finally be folded into a singular hegemonic national idiom. By looking beyond the screen of politics proper to examine closely the visual texture of everyday politics, this article demonstrates that effects of these ephemeral and largely unstudied transformations in the popular realm persistently intersect with organized civic life, creating unanticipated and dynamic sites for new forms of text and image‐based popular politics.