This essay focuses on the “regime of truth” that has historically been constructed in public education institutions that support the state assimilationist nation-building project which marginalizes Pashtun ethnic identity, culture, history, and political existence. In popular media, Pashtun are also presented as a “suspect community” and “potential terrorists.” In response, some Pashtun have created informal spaces such as study circles, gatherings where they develop alternatives to the official state narrative found in textbooks used in formal education. By focusing on Pashtun history, culture and politics, they consciously and academically resist the image of the Pashtun as “suspect community.” Drawing on what James C. Scott calls “weapons of the weak,” this essay examines the selection and use of these informal spaces as a mode of resistance. The research on which it is based uses anthropological methods, such as participant observation, informal discussions, and unstructured interviews, to examine the construction of narratives that challenge official accounts of Pashtun identity. The essay concludes by comparing these Pashtun informal spaces with different forms of resistance found among other ethnic groups in Pakistan.

本文重点关注历史上在公共教育机构中构建的“真理制度”，这些机构支持将普什图民族身份、文化、历史和政治存在边缘化的国家同化国家建设项目。在大众媒体中，普什图人也被描述为“嫌疑社区”和“潜在的恐怖分子”。作为回应，一些普什图人创造了非正式空间，例如学习圈、聚会，在那里他们开发了正规教育教科书中官方国家叙述的替代方案。通过关注普什图人的历史、文化和政治，他们有意识地在学术上抵制普什图人作为“嫌疑社区”的形象。这篇文章借鉴了 James C. Scott 所说的“弱者的武器”，考察了这些非正式空间的选择和使用，作为一种抵抗模式。它所基于的研究使用人类学方法，例如参与观察、非正式讨论和非结构化访谈，来检查挑战普什图身份官方描述的叙事结构。文章最后将这些普什图人的非正式空间与巴基斯坦其他族裔群体中发现的不同形式的抵抗进行了比较。