Time in Flux: Daily and Weekly Rhythms in Rural Pakistan

Mughal, M.A.Z.

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight that daily and weekly rhythms, being a part of the social organization of time, mediate people’s responses to social change in rural Pakistan. Indigenous ways of measuring different stages of the day have recently been replaced by clock time as a consequence of industrialization and urbanization. Further, changing socioeconomic circumstances have given rise to a new temporal rhythm, which unfolds in daily time allocation for different activities. The debate regarding whether Sunday or Friday should be the weekend in Pakistan points to the contested notions of time that can be explained on the basis of temporal identity, religion, and urbanization. By using an ethnographic example, this study also discusses how daily and weekly rhythms are maintained in rural Pakistan through the socioeconomic realities of everyday life.

Citation

Mughal, M. (2017). Time in Flux: Daily and Weekly Rhythms in Rural Pakistan. Asian ethnology, 76(2), 261-287

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Mar 29, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 9, 2019
• Journal: Asian ethnology
• Print ISSN: 1882-6865
• Publisher: Nanzan University
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 76
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 261-287
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1363255
• Publisher URL: http://asianethnology.org/articles/43