Asiatic Voice: No More Reconstruction, Construction or Deconstruction

Abstract

Prejudices and biases influence most historians, constructing and deconstructing the past. Asiatic history is no exception. Like western history, Asiatic society is also subject to such forms of analysis, both from inside and outside Pakistan. In this paper I will show the failure of one of the most important models of nineteenth-century constructionism, especially in the context of Asiatic history that is given by Marx. I will limit myself to the analysis of Marx as a paradigmatic example of nineteenth-century constructionism. Additionally and necessarily I shall also argue that deconstruction, exemplified by Hayden White’s notion of ‘Metahistory’, also fails. ______