I feel like every country has its different words for “burgerism”, being raised in a country where the language differs among states. In Kerala, India – “Jada” is the equivalent of “Burger”. I was accused of being Jada because of the reputation of my high school. I never noticed it then but upon retrospection, it seems unfair. Being Jada always related to those who were privileged and entitled. Being Jada meant speaking English with a western accent represented a higher social status, whereas speaking fluent Malayalam (Kerala’s native language) represented being “local”. I wish this could change.

Working on this podcast allowed me to have honest and productive conversations with my fellow coursemates about the potentially harmful side effects of Colonization. Our project, “Classism and Burger Culture in Pakistan” combines personal experiences, readings, and media representations all exhibiting the horrible realities of colonial rule that still affects many Pakistanis. This is a subject that has very little research, so we felt more inclined to share our stories in connection to the readings. 

We decided to go beyond just producing a podcast and decided to showcase just hope deeply intertwined ‘Burger culture’ is in everyday life in Pakistan. This was achieved by creating various categories on our website such as Satire, Music, and Shows, etc. We hope you enjoy exploring our website and you can leave the website with a bit more information on the class structures that exist in Pakistan.

I have always floated between the two polar ends of burgerism and being purely Punjabi. I grew under my grandmother’s supervision and she was adamant that I should be fluent in our mother tongue. My mother and uncle on the other hand wished that I spoke in an accent, a burger accent. They believed that it would help me get into top-tier universities, secure good internships. Perhaps, they were right. Today, as a humanities student, I can see through the problematic elements of this ideology. However, with more and more awareness, I, to an exacerbating extent, come to realize how inevitable it is for students to become burgers in order to fit in and not be ostracized for not being anglicized enough. In my capacity, as an artist, I hope to gradually and sneakily slide defiance into the hearts of my dear desi youth and allow them to look at our beautiful and rich culture from my eyes.

Growing up middle-class in Pakistan, I was no stranger to the unique dichotomous culture of rich vs. poor. While there is so much ever-evolving nuance and intersectionality to class differences in the country, what always fascinated me was the concept of ‘burger’ people. These are the exclusive elite people who are incredibly westernized. I have always thought the dynamics of burgers vs everyone have played out very interestingly and have wanted to explore the topic deeper. I have always sought answers to questions I have about this but have found rarely any work done on it in an academic capacity. To me, this project is my way of taking a first step towards learning more about particular systems of injustice that occur particularly in my part of the world. 

With this project, I hope to expose my classmates to interesting aspects of South Asian culture and pop culture while raising awareness about a classism issue that persists in my country. I also hope to learn more about similar phenomena in other parts of the world. I feel like the first step towards decolonizing activism and academics is to realize and have conversations about the indigenous power structures and systems of oppression that exist within our own countries.