Although Professor Nida Kirmani’s article, “Fear and the City: Negotiating Everyday Life as a Young Baloch Man in Karachi” was not assigned to my group this week, I decided to read it as an optional reading since we were expecting a visit from the professor during class too. The article provides an enlightening ethnographic perspective on how emotions like fear play a role in shaping the socio-spatial exclusions and power relations within a city – enlightening because spatial restrictions for men is a foreign concept to me. Focusing on the conflict-ridden neighborhood of Lyari in Karachi, Pakistan, it demonstrates how violence – and the threat/ fear of violence – distinctly impact the lives of marginalized young Baloch men. 

Young Baloch men in Lyari face threats of violence both within Lyari from criminal gangs and outside from rival political parties. This creates a shifting landscape of fear, restricting their mobility and employment opportunities. This fear is also contextually situated, with the greatest perceived threat shifting between political parties, state security forces, and local gangs depending on circumstances. To navigate safely, they adopt tactics like avoiding certain areas or only traveling during daytime. Faheem is a young Baloch man who was forced to abandon his job at a hospital when they transferred him from day shifts to night shifts because that would mean traveling through MQM-dominated areas during the dark.  Hence, these spatial regulations reinforce marginalization and impact employment opprtunities for Baloch men in Lyari. 

One of the most interesting points is how emotions like fear are shown to be produced by and also reproduce the city’s configurations of power. The gangs assert power symbolically through posters and graffiti marking territory, while state security forces too evoke fear through certain spatial practices, like establishing checkpoints. This emotion shapes spatial tactics, which, in turn reinforce social boundaries. The article also provides an “empathetic” ethnographic approach by focusing closely on the narratives of young men in Lyari. The details about altering bodily practices like avoiding running reveal the micro-level impacts of violence.

Interestingly, this is exactly how women react in situations of perceived threat elsewhere in the country. I was pleasantly surprised yet saddened to read that many men use the presence of women as a safety tool, taking their mothers or sisters along whenever they step out of the house as gangs and state services alike are less likely to stop and harass women. On that point, a limitation I found in the study is actually its complete focus on men’s experiences and erasing women’s experiences in Lyari altogether. I recall the women featured in Professor Kirmani’s documnetaey who boldly exclaimed that they’ve been at the forefronts of fighting with the police and the gangs and are ready to defend their men however needed. As the article too acknowledges, women also face restrictions, and including their perspective could have enriched the analysis perhaps. Nonetheless, the specific focus on marginalized masculinities in the urban context remains insightful.