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Code-switching can be used to express and create different meanings and ideologies, as well as different identities. Speakers can choose various codes in their linguistic repertoires to do these things. In academic settings in Pakistan, English is likely to be used with Urdu and regional languages, such as Pashto, resulting in the expression and construction of different identities. In order to examine the link between code-switching and identity in a multilingual academic setting, this paper examines the construction of identity that emerges from codeswitching practices among a group of lecturers and students at a university in Pakistan. Data were collected through recordings of interactions supplemented with semi-structured interviews, which were then ethnographically analysed from a micro-macro perspective. The findings revealed a seamless and dynamic use of code-switching, which was mainly in English and Pashto. The fluid nature of the code-switching makes it seem as if speakers have developed a different 'language' combining Pashto and English. Such use of code-switching reflects their socialisation in a multilingual and multicultural environment, which in turn, has led to the emergence of their hybrid identity orientations. The study contributes empirical evidence of the link between code-switching and hybrid identities in a multilingual context. The findings also imply that interactive practices should be examined from a dynamic micro-macro perspective because changes in the social environment can affect the thinking, perceptions, behaviours, and identity-orientations of the speakers.

The ideologies rampant in the societies ensure their reproduction through various means. Social institutions are employed to carry out the power structures and uphold the favourable ideologies. These ideologies always favour one over the other by means of differentiation. Gender is one such ideology/construct, which maintains the favourable hegemony of men over women by ascribing different gender roles that justify the society’s unequal treatment of men and women. Motherhood is the most natural aspect of female gender. However, society and social institutions are selective of what comprises good or bad mothering. I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen runs along the same line, where a mother is tormented by guilt of not fulfilling her role as a good mother. This study, thus, offers a critique on social stereotyping of gender roles from a social construction feminist perspective. The study specifically ventures to explore the various factors and institutions that normalize prescribed rules for good and bad mothering. The study also questions the unhelpful stance of the society with respect to child caring services, which makes women accept traditional gender roles. The aim of the study is to gain insight on social manipulation of gender as a way for upholding traditional gender values / roles.

This research explores repressive state apparatuses with reference to Shehnaz Bashir’s debut novel The Half Mother (2014). The research throws light on the handling of executive institutions like the police, army and judiciary by the state against the group of people who go against the ideologies of the state. In doing so, the reaction of various characters to the state sponsored terrorism and extremism, as depicted in the novel The Half Mother (2014), are examined and evaluated. Moreover, this study explains how the state uses violence after not getting the desired result by applying repressive state apparatuses (1971). Furthermore, this research extends the domain of the study of state sponsored terrorism through executive institutions and the role of media in the shaping of public opinion. Thus, the study is beneficial for future studies in the field of state apparatuses and paves the way for further research into the events or elements which lead to crimes perpetrated by the state. Keywords: State, State Apparatuses, Violence, Repression