{"id":{"repo_id":"auckland-ms","oai_identifier":"oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/72867"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/auckland-ms/oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/72867","repository":{"repo_id":"auckland-ms","name":"University of Auckland","base_url":"https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"I Thank Therefore I Am: Postcolonial Affective Governmentality of Higher Education in Pakistan","abstract":"The discursive and affective legacies of colonialism have continued to shape the postcolonial knowledge ecosystems in different ways. This study, by using the post-Foucauldian framework of postcolonial affective governmentality, analyses and theorises the colonial patterns of thinking and feeling that underlie the dynamics of postcolonial higher education in Pakistan. For this purpose, it first maps the colonial genealogy of the postcolonial higher education system in Pakistan and second, explores the mechanism of the reproduction of the colonial dynamics in the system. To study the mechanism of the reproduction of the colonial dynamics that are theorised as the colonial matrix of power, two strategies of postcolonial affective governmentality, problematisation and ritualisation, are proposed in this study. To study the strategy of problematisation, a critical policy analysis of the historical higher education policies in Pakistan is carried out in this thesis. This analysis highlights the discursive and affective construction of the problem of quality in the higher education policies. The analysis of the policy problematisation of quality explains how the discursive and affective habits embedded in the experience of British colonial rule of India reproduce coloniality of knowledge, power, and being in the postcolonial context of Pakistan. After analysing the production of coloniality in the macro-practice of policy making, this study traces the dynamics of coloniality in the micro-practice of acknowledgements writing by appraising the governmentality strategy of ritualisation. A critical ritual analysis of the dissertation acknowledgements explores the strategies of the construction of ritualised space and agent. The construction of the ritualised space in acknowledgements involves strategies of external and internal structuring that engage colonial binaries of self and other. This structured ritualised space then offers the opportunity for the affective socialisation of the scholar/writer to produce a grateful scholarly self that performs epistemic complicity and reproduces the colonial matrix of power in the postcolonial context of Pakistan. This study, through a situated analysis, offers a context-sensitive understanding of the contours of coloniality and the mechanisms of its reproduction, which is important for imagining decolonial futures for postcolonial knowledge cultures such as Pakistan.","abstract_html":"The discursive and affective legacies of colonialism have continued to shape the postcolonial knowledge ecosystems in different ways. This study, by using the post-Foucauldian framework of postcolonial affective governmentality, analyses and theorises the colonial patterns of thinking and feeling that underlie the dynamics of postcolonial higher education in Pakistan. For this purpose, it first maps the colonial genealogy of the postcolonial higher education system in Pakistan and second, explores the mechanism of the reproduction of the colonial dynamics in the system. To study the mechanism of the reproduction of the colonial dynamics that are theorised as the colonial matrix of power, two strategies of postcolonial affective governmentality, problematisation and ritualisation, are proposed in this study. To study the strategy of problematisation, a critical policy analysis of the historical higher education policies in Pakistan is carried out in this thesis. This analysis highlights the discursive and affective construction of the problem of quality in the higher education policies. The analysis of the policy problematisation of quality explains how the discursive and affective habits embedded in the experience of British colonial rule of India reproduce coloniality of knowledge, power, and being in the postcolonial context of Pakistan. After analysing the production of coloniality in the macro-practice of policy making, this study traces the dynamics of coloniality in the micro-practice of acknowledgements writing by appraising the governmentality strategy of ritualisation. A critical ritual analysis of the dissertation acknowledgements explores the strategies of the construction of ritualised space and agent. The construction of the ritualised space in acknowledgements involves strategies of external and internal structuring that engage colonial binaries of self and other. This structured ritualised space then offers the opportunity for the affective socialisation of the scholar/writer to produce a grateful scholarly self that performs epistemic complicity and reproduces the colonial matrix of power in the postcolonial context of Pakistan. This study, through a situated analysis, offers a context-sensitive understanding of the contours of coloniality and the mechanisms of its reproduction, which is important for imagining decolonial futures for postcolonial knowledge cultures such as Pakistan.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ahmad, Maria"],"institution":"ResearchSpace@Auckland","degree_name":"PhD","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":"Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Grant, Barbara","Kelly, Frances"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025","date_published":"2025","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:05:11Z","subjects":["Epistemic coloniality","Decolonisation of Higher Education","Postcolonial affective governmentality","Epistemic complicity"],"languages":[],"rights":["Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated."],"rights_urls":["https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2292/72867","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Grant, Barbara","Kelly, Frances"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ahmad, Maria"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2025-07-11T02:52:23Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-07-11T02:52:23Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["ResearchSpace@Auckland"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["PhD"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The University of Auckland"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Epistemic coloniality","Decolonisation of Higher Education","Postcolonial affective governmentality","Epistemic complicity"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2292/72867"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The discursive and affective legacies of colonialism have continued to shape the postcolonial knowledge ecosystems in different ways. This study, by using the post-Foucauldian framework of postcolonial affective governmentality, analyses and theorises the colonial patterns of thinking and feeling that underlie the dynamics of postcolonial higher education in Pakistan. For this purpose, it first maps the colonial genealogy of the postcolonial higher education system in Pakistan and second, explores the mechanism of the reproduction of the colonial dynamics in the system. To study the mechanism of the reproduction of the colonial dynamics that are theorised as the colonial matrix of power, two strategies of postcolonial affective governmentality, problematisation and ritualisation, are proposed in this study. To study the strategy of problematisation, a critical policy analysis of the historical higher education policies in Pakistan is carried out in this thesis. This analysis highlights the discursive and affective construction of the problem of quality in the higher education policies. The analysis of the policy problematisation of quality explains how the discursive and affective habits embedded in the experience of British colonial rule of India reproduce coloniality of knowledge, power, and being in the postcolonial context of Pakistan. After analysing the production of coloniality in the macro-practice of policy making, this study traces the dynamics of coloniality in the micro-practice of acknowledgements writing by appraising the governmentality strategy of ritualisation. A critical ritual analysis of the dissertation acknowledgements explores the strategies of the construction of ritualised space and agent. The construction of the ritualised space in acknowledgements involves strategies of external and internal structuring that engage colonial binaries of self and other. This structured ritualised space then offers the opportunity for the affective socialisation of the scholar/writer to produce a grateful scholarly self that performs epistemic complicity and reproduces the colonial matrix of power in the postcolonial context of Pakistan. This study, through a situated analysis, offers a context-sensitive understanding of the contours of coloniality and the mechanisms of its reproduction, which is important for imagining decolonial futures for postcolonial knowledge cultures such as Pakistan."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["I Thank Therefore I Am: Postcolonial Affective Governmentality of Higher Education in Pakistan"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Grant, Barbara","Kelly, Frances"],"dc:creator":["Ahmad, Maria"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2025-07-11T02:52:23Z"],"dc:date.available":["2025-07-11T02:52:23Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2025"],"dc:description.abstract":["The discursive and affective legacies of colonialism have continued to shape the postcolonial knowledge ecosystems in different ways. This study, by using the post-Foucauldian framework of postcolonial affective governmentality, analyses and theorises the colonial patterns of thinking and feeling that underlie the dynamics of postcolonial higher education in Pakistan. For this purpose, it first maps the colonial genealogy of the postcolonial higher education system in Pakistan and second, explores the mechanism of the reproduction of the colonial dynamics in the system. To study the mechanism of the reproduction of the colonial dynamics that are theorised as the colonial matrix of power, two strategies of postcolonial affective governmentality, problematisation and ritualisation, are proposed in this study. To study the strategy of problematisation, a critical policy analysis of the historical higher education policies in Pakistan is carried out in this thesis. This analysis highlights the discursive and affective construction of the problem of quality in the higher education policies. The analysis of the policy problematisation of quality explains how the discursive and affective habits embedded in the experience of British colonial rule of India reproduce coloniality of knowledge, power, and being in the postcolonial context of Pakistan. After analysing the production of coloniality in the macro-practice of policy making, this study traces the dynamics of coloniality in the micro-practice of acknowledgements writing by appraising the governmentality strategy of ritualisation. A critical ritual analysis of the dissertation acknowledgements explores the strategies of the construction of ritualised space and agent. The construction of the ritualised space in acknowledgements involves strategies of external and internal structuring that engage colonial binaries of self and other. This structured ritualised space then offers the opportunity for the affective socialisation of the scholar/writer to produce a grateful scholarly self that performs epistemic complicity and reproduces the colonial matrix of power in the postcolonial context of Pakistan. This study, through a situated analysis, offers a context-sensitive understanding of the contours of coloniality and the mechanisms of its reproduction, which is important for imagining decolonial futures for postcolonial knowledge cultures such as Pakistan."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/2292/72867"],"dc:publisher":["ResearchSpace@Auckland"],"dc:rights":["Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated."],"dc:rights.uri":["https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm"],"dc:subject":["Epistemic coloniality","Decolonisation of Higher Education","Postcolonial affective governmentality","Epistemic complicity"],"dc:title":["I Thank Therefore I Am: Postcolonial Affective Governmentality of Higher Education in Pakistan"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["PhD"],"thesis:institution_name":["The University of Auckland"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:05:11Z"}