MARGINALISED VOICES AND FOUCAULT’S PHILOSOPHY OF DISCIPLINARY POWER AND BIOPOLITICS IN UZMA ASLAM KHAN’S TRESPASSING: SALAAMAT AS A CASE STUDY IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH ASIAN SOCIETIES

Abstract

Uzma Aslam Khan’s Trespassing (2003) examines the complex dynamics of marginalisation through the character of Salaamat, who reflects the intersections of environmental degradation, displacement, and socio-political exclusion in a postcolonial South Asian context. Drawing on postcolonial ecocriticism and Michel Foucault’s theory of disciplinary power, this study argues that the novel reveals subtle mechanisms by which power regulates and marginalizes individuals, communities, and ecological resources in formerly colonized societies. Salaamat’s story underscores the deep interconnection between human and non-human life, illustrating how environmental capitalism, surveillance, and spatial control commodify both people and nature. As a representative of deprived groups, including religious minorities in Pakistan, Salaamat exposes entrenched socio-environmental injustices. The novel functions as a critical literary intervention, urging ethical accountability, ecological awareness, civic inclusion, and a reimagining of coexistence grounded in equity, empathy, and environmental responsibility.