Feminist Edutainment and the Pakistan Televisual Commons: A multi-site Ethnography of Urdu Serial Drama

Abstract

The Urdu serial drama, a television form indigenous to Pakistan, was first created in the 1960s in the context of state-controlled broadcast television but has proven enduringly popular with audiences at home and abroad. In this multi-sited ethnography, I consider the role of transnational institutions, such as foreign aid agencies, who provide funding to developing countries with the intention of creating content in the context of a deregulated television industry. Central to my research is the voice of the creative workers, such as writers and producers, who navigate complex structures to ensure that the content is relevant to local conditions. Lastly, with participant observation conducted in three households across a sustained period of time, the audience reception study explores how drama serials enthral, educate and ultimately bind Pakistani women by creating a space where they can engage issues of gender violence in ways that speak to their own experience but also have implications beyond it. By exploring these aspects of content creation and reception, I showcase the role of women in creating a cultural public sphere, a televisual commons or zannana, where issues of importance to their lives can be discussed and debated. I also demonstrate how, through the power of social media, such discussions are no longer relegated to the domestic sphere but spill out into a technologically expanded public sphere.