Muzaffar Karim, Author at INVERSE JOURNAL

Factory or Corporation: What “Severance” Gets Wrong — An Analysis by Muzaffar Karim

March 10, 2023 | Film

Muzaffar Karim presents an analysis of “Severance” (2022, Apple+), the critically-acclaimed award-winning TV series directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle, with Adam Scott in the lead. Karim’s analytical piece fills the void that is often left by mainstream reviews that are mainly concerned with plot, characterization, theme, ratings and “watchability” and restricted by wordcount. In this piece, Karim meditates on the vocabulary, ideas, thematic undertones, imagery and subtexts found in the show that ultimately facilitate a theoretical and critical commentary on bigger and more pressing questions in dialogue with the work of multiple philosophers and thinkers.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions presented in this piece are the author’s own. This piece contains some spoilers.

POETÈ MAUDIT — A Short Story by Muzaffar Karim

September 4, 2022 | Fiction

In this short story that commences at “the holy steps” of the Makhdoom Sahib shrine in Srinagar, a disgruntled character surprises the author of what he considers to be an unfinished tale.

Disclaimer: any resemblance to reality is purely fictional in this short story. For more, readers are advised to check the Editorial Disclaimer.

Dancing to the Tunes of an Algorithm: Mapping Labor Through Franco Berardi and Byung-Chul Han — by Muzaffar Karim

February 20, 2022 | Academia, Film

In this essay, Muzaffar Karim sets an important series of discussions in motion by evaluating four concepts—Time, Labor, Consent, Technology—and their interrelationship in the modern world-system. Karim explores relevant theoretical ideas by Franco Berardi and Byun-Chul Han, applying them to an original and multimodal critique that takes examples from a variety of classic and popular films. The writer also cites earlier work on such topics by influential thinkers such as Deleuze, Guattari, Marx, Foucault, Baudrillard, and others, in a synthesis of ideas that harmonize consistently with core perspectives on set notions and valuations of employment, work, wealth, happiness, etc. These set notions and valuations are problematized and critiqued within the prism of an era governed by digital platforms, data networks, web apps, and big data, all of which have led to the genesis of a new human subject. While maintaining an accessible academic tone, Karim’s essay is equally entertaining and abundant in relatable references and observations that invite critical consideration and needed reflection. Note: The word “labor” is used as Franco Berardi refers to it in his writing.

Mother Tongue — A Short Story by Muzaffar Karim

August 22, 2021 | 2021 Timeline, Fiction

Muzaffar Karim presents a short story driven by language, the Kashmiri language, and with a protagonist about to embark on a journey. While waiting, Sultan Saeb voyages through his thoughts into the terrain of memory and into an inner world full of song, verse, and literature—all the while structuring a speech in his head to be delivered at the point of his destination, a Kashmiri language conference. Karim’s story is set in an airport, a transitory space ideal for ruminating and reminiscing, especially for a scholar of the Kashmiri language stuck waiting for a flight that has been “delayed due to bad weather.” The multiplicity found in this subtle piece of fiction complements the many complexities of a Kashmiri language that propels its plot, thematic undertones and narrative style.

Jaun Elia: The Garbage Dump of History — Translated and Introduced by Muzaffar Karim

November 15, 2020 | Non-Fiction

Academic and writer Muzaffar Karim translates and introduces Jaun Elia’s “The Garbage Dump of History,” a piece originally titled “Jannat Jahanam” in Urdu that appeared in Suspense Digest (July 2000). Karim’s introduction and subsequent translation situate international readers beyond Elia’s widely known poetic and academic work, bringing us closer to Elia’s thoughts on Kashmir before, during and after partition. In the process, Karim’s translation reveals a deep sense of empathy, expressed as irredeemable angst that the poet, scholar and philosopher felt for Kashmir and its people, and particularly its disenfranchised Muslim majority. By way of translation, Muzaffar Karim retrieves a piece of writing that serves as a relic or a historical document to register the desperation, angst and nihilism that has festered for decades as Kashmir has remained besieged and exiled from any semblance of peace. That that desperation and angst is expressed by Elia via this translation by Karim makes it even more symbolic of the hostile and unchanging times.

Novel Excerpt: A Silhouette in the Nuke — by Muzaffar Karim

May 3, 2020 | Fiction

Muzaffar Karim brings us an excerpt from his post-apocalyptic novel set around 2050 when a nuclear attack by India has wiped off Kashmir from the face of the earth, leaving behind a few survivors. Among them, a few people are still fighting back, including Qais, the narrator, who is part of the Resistance. Qais’s only companion, besides Hamdan, is an old charred children’s book miraculously discovered beneath the rubble. The book narrates the story of the magical valley of Ka and the subsequent weakening of that magic due to the conjured up ‘Grandspell’ by surrounding evil neighbors.

The past few months have pitted us against an apocalypse. The city around us is attaining a new meaning. In this excerpt (Chapter 9 of the novel) Qais and Hamdan reactivate the wrecked subway and see Kashmir from a different perspective.

We, the Expendables — by Muzaffar Karim

March 3, 2020 | Acquaintance

As the academic session in Kashmir starts after a six month lockdown, Professor Muzaffar Karim provides a perspective on the challenges faced by multiple parties within an education system that treats those entrusted with imparting knowledge as expendable.