scholarly journals The Aesthetics of Healing in the Sacredness of the African American Female’s Bible: Zora Neale Hurston’s Moses, Man of the Mountain

2016 ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Vicent Cucarella-Ramon
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Social Protest ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Protest Literature ◽  
Creative Agency ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Sacred Story

Zora Neale Hurston’s Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939) stands in the tradition of African American use of the biblical musings that aims to relativize and yet uphold a new version of the sacred story under the gaze of a black woman that manipulates and admonishes the characters of the gospel to offer a feminist side of the Bible. The novel discloses Hurston’s mastering of the aesthetics that black folklore infused to the African American cultural experience and her accommodation to bring to the fore the needed voice of black women. Rejecting the role of religion as a reductive mode of social protest, the novel extends its jeremiadic ethos and evolves into a black feminist manifesto in which a world without women equates disruption and instability. Hurston showcases the importance of an inclusive and ethic sacred femininity to reclaim a new type of womanhood both socially and aesthetically. Three decades before the post-colonial era, Hurston’s bold representation of the sacred femininity recasts the jeremiad tradition to pin down notions of humanitarianism, social justice and the recognition of politics of art. All in all, in an era of a manly social protest literature Hurston opts for portraying the folkloric aesthetics of spirituality as creative agency simply to acknowledge the leadership of the sacred femininity that black women could remodel into art.

scholarly journals “Madwoman in the Post-Colonial Era” A Study of the Female Voice in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 236
Author(s):  
Nushrat Azam
Keyword(s):  
Jean Rhys ◽  
Female Voice ◽  
Female Character ◽  
Sargasso Sea ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Wide Sargasso Sea ◽  
Voice And Silence

This paper seeks to analyze the mediums and effects of voice and silence in the life of a female character of the re-written post-colonial text Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea. The analysis shows how a re-written text can give a new meaning to a character and story of a novel, where the character of Antoinette tells the untold story of Bertha in Jane Eyre. The method of investigation for this research is analytical and descriptive; the research was completed by analyzing the events, actions and the interactions of the female character, Antoinette with the other major characters in the novel in order to identify how the character of Antoinette was portrayed throughout the novel. It is understood through the study of the text, that the post-colonial novel gave the female voice much more importance than its previous counterpart. This represents the early post-colonial times during which women were starting to gain liberation but had still not completely moved on from the notions of patriarchal societies that they had grown up in.

Cannibalism and cultural manipulation: How Morier is received in the Persian literary canon

Human Affairs ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-159
Author(s):  
Moslem Fatollahi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Canon ◽  
Persian Literature ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Western Literature ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Post Colonialism ◽  
Persian Translation

Abstract Post-colonialism and orientalism have inspired literary scholars to study various aspects of literature and literary translation in the post-colonial era. One of the implications of post-colonialism for literature as a discipline is the idea of cannibalism and cultural manipulation. This corpus-based study aims to analyze the notions of “cultural manipulation” or “cannibalism” in the Persian translation of Haji Baba by Mirza Habib Isfahani, to explore the translator’s strategy, as an intercultural mediator, in modulating the source novel’s colonial stance and adapting it to the religious, literary and cultural tastes of the Iranians. Our findings reveal that two main techniques—of omission and euphemism—have been applied in rendering the novel into Persian. Using these techniques, the translator has attempted to challenge the imperial stance of the main writer and come up with a version of the source novel which is much less insulting to Iranians’ cultural values. That is why this translation has been widely received as a literary masterpiece in Persian literature. One implication is that it might be claimed that cannibalism and cultural manipulation can be used to explain the trend of manipulating western literature in countries which have never been colonized, but that have suffered from the colonial stance of colonial writers.

scholarly journals Masterji’s Resistance in Aravind Adiga’s Last Man in Tower: An Embodiment of the Struggle of the Marginalized Class

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-93
Author(s):  
Badiuzzaman Shaikh
Keyword(s):  
Lower Class ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Entire Country ◽  
Last Man ◽  
The Rich

Aravind Adiga’s Last Man in Tower, published in 2011, is a trenchant critique on the effects of globalization, urbanization, privatization and capitalism in the post-colonial era in India. All these changes in the contemporary society have effectively bifurcated the entire country into two groups—the rich and the poor, the centre and the margin, the privileged upper class and the underprivileged lower class. In the novel Dharmen Shah, a real estate mogul represents the first group of people who are socio-politically and economically highly influential, whereas Yogesh A. Murthy, aka Masterji, is the embodiment of the marginalized class that are constantly dominated and exploited by the former group. My present paper aims to analyse in detail how far Masterji is able to resist the scabrous sufferings unleashed by the rich realtor Dharmen Shah, and how far Masterji’s resistance becomes an incarnation of the resilience of marginalized people in the contemporary society.

scholarly journals TERMINO ETHNOS REIKŠMIŲ POKYČIAI: NUO BIBLIJOS VERTIMŲ IKI NAUJŲJŲ UTOPIJŲ

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 32-620
Author(s):  
Aušra Kristina Pažėraitė
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Bible Translations ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Academic History ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Group Identities ◽  
The Usa ◽  
In The Beginning

Šiame straipsnyje keliamas etninės tapatybės genezės klausimas šiuolaikinėje lietuviškoje kultūroje. Pirmiausia aptariamas žodžių „etnosas“, „etniškumas“ apibrėžimų problemiškumas, atkreipiant dėmesį į tai, kad šie žodžiai imti intensyviai eksploatuoti tik prasidedant pokolonijiniam laikotarpiui, siekiant nurodyti tam tikras žmonių grupių tapatybes (Sovietų Sąjungoje – tautybę, JAV, Didžiojoje Britanijoje ir susijusiuose kraštuose – įvairias mažumas). Antroje straipsnio dalyje lyginamas LXX ir hebrajiškos Biblijos (MT) terminų, nurodančių įvairias žmonių grupines tapatybes, taip pat ir ethnos, vartojimas, analizuojamos įvairios Biblijos tekstų vertimų į lietuvių kalbą strategijos. Parodoma, kaip radikaliai keitėsi grupinę tapatybę žyminčių terminų samprata ir interpretacija XX a. Tyrimas leidžia daryti išvadą, kad žodis „tauta“ XX a. pradžioje Lietuvoje pakeitė neutralų anksčiau vartotą žodį „žmonės“, kuriuo būdavo perteikiami graikiški žodžiai laos, neretai ir ethnos, ar lotyniškas populus, ir taip buvo sukonstruotos „tautos“; taip pat atkreipiamas dėmesys į tai, kad žodynai, kuriuose LXX ir NT graikiškas terminas ethnos aiškinamas kaip stereotipiškai nurodantis nežydus, nekrikščionis, pagonis, yra anachronistiškai perdedantys, nors ir būta negatyvumo, siejamo su šiuo terminu krikščioniškoje kultūroje. Šitą negatyvumą tebegalima apčiuopti ir šiuolaikinėje lietuviškoje kultūroje per susvetimėjimą su lietuviškumu. Galiausiai straipsnyje aptariama lietuviškoji savivoka, pasireiškianti per svetimumo su savimi, su šiuolaikine visuomene momentus, ir pateikiami keli pavyzdžiai pastangų įveikti minėtą susvetimėjimą naujų utopijų kūrimu, tik utopijų, nukreiptų ne į ateitį, o į praeitį, bandančių perkurti Lietuvos istoriją, kurią esą šiuolaikiniai akademiniai istorikai yra iškraipę, taip lyg tapdami atsakingi už tą susvetimėjimą.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: etniškumas, ethnos, tauta, Biblija, Biblijos vertimai, biblinė tauta, susvetimėjimas, lietuviškas etnosas, pagonybė. CHANGES IN THE MEANING OF THE TERM ETHNOS: FROM THE BIBLE TRANSLATIONS TO THE NEW UTOPIASAušra Kristina Pažėraitė SummaryThis article presents an analysis of the genesis of ethnic identity in the contemporary Lithuanian culture. In particular, the definitions of such words as “ethnos”, “ethnicity” are discussed by paying more attention to the fact that these words became common words denoting particular identities of the people only at the beginning of the post-colonial era (nearly synonymous to nation in the Soviet Union and denoting different minorities in the USA, Great Britain, etc.). In the second part of the article, the Biblical (LXX and the MT) words that name different peoples, group identities are compared, their use and the strategy of translation of various texts of the Bible into Lithuanian are analyzed. The article shows how radically the conception and interpretation of the terms that denote various biblical group identities have changed. In the Bible translations into Lithuanian, the word “nation” in the beginning of the 20th century replaced the ancient and more neutral word “people”, which conveyed the Greek word laos, sometimes also ethnos, or the Latin populus. Although the negativity of the term ethnos in its Christian usages can be perceived in the post-soviet Lithuanian culture, a conclusion is made that the traditional explication of the word ethnos in various dictionaries, which stereotypically denotes in LXX pagan people, non-Judeans, non-Christian, is an anachronistic exaggeration. In the final part of the article, certain aspects of post-soviet Lithuanian self-consciousness are discussed by pointing to the self-alienation of this consciousness on the “ethnic” background (Lithuanian nationality is equated to ethnicity, and the concept of ethnicity still preserves a certain negativity of the minority, if not hated, heathen, pagan minority). Finally, certain examples of the attempt to overcome this alienation are presented as the new Utopias, although oriented not toward the future, but back to the past as the attempts to create a new History of Lithuania instead of the present official academic History, which is considered as an essentially alienating one.Keywords: ethnos, ethnicity, the Bible, nation, people, translations of the Bible, biblical nation, Lithuanian ethnicity, alienation, paganism.

scholarly journals Resistance and Identity in The God of Small Things Written by Arundhati Roy

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-75
Author(s):  
Saman A. Dizayi
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Arundhati Roy ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Complex Concept ◽  
Colonial Legacy ◽  
New Community ◽  
Small Things ◽  
Identity Suppression

This paper presents an analysis of the novel "The God of the Small Things" written by Arundhati Roy. The primary purpose of this paper is to evaluate the idea of resistance and identity that have been described in the novel by the novelist. It will be demonstrated in this novel that how the resistance against the traditions and norms of post-colonial era is related to the self-realisation. There are different kinds of resistance that have been depicted in the novel at various circumstances. In Postcolonial context identity is a complex concept to be located in just a simple definition or to be investigated throughout a single theoretical approach.  Resistance as a concept linked to the identity question. The Novel handles this notion and throughout its plot, besides the burden that is left from the colonial legacy, gender identity comes to the surface. Though women resistance appears as a reaction with identity suppression; yet it is a reflection of self-identification of gender inequality under patriarchal traditions inherited from long dominant masculine power. This paper elaborates on each type of resistance and activism that arises against the feudal and patriarchal forces structured by the economic and politically influential people in the new community as a sample in India after postcolonialism. Consequently, one of the points that the research ends with is that the act of resistance validates the pursuit for self-identity, which is an attempt to renown, reclaim and rename the world.

scholarly journals Gender Trouble and the Tragic Black Woman Hybrids in Clotel, Quicksand and Passing

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 08
Author(s):  
Hayder Naji Shanbooj Alolaiwi
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
African American Female ◽  
The Novel ◽  
American Novels ◽  
True Representation ◽  
Gender Pattern ◽  
Gender Trouble

<p>The African-American female character's description in Clotel, Quicksand and Passing are very impressive, among whom Clotel, Clare and Irene are depicted as one of the most important “passing” figures for the whole story. Though sharing some similarities with the traditional Black women in the past African-American novels, Clotel, Clare and Irene are very different. The strong connection with as well as variations than the usual gender pattern are mixed within these women. It is only by this new approach that the reader can re-think Black woman and build a new African-American female identity. Taking into the consideration an ecofeminist point of view, this paper is going to study the points of similarities with and differences from the traditional Black Women in the novel, unwrap on the developing subject identity of Black women in this novel, in order to prove that in this novel female subject identity is more than a true representation of essentialism and dualism, in a special and unique realistic perspective.</p>

scholarly journals The Portrayal of Women: Feminist Analysis of A Hologram for The King

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-27
Author(s):  
Samal Marf Mohammed
Keyword(s):  
Women Characters ◽  
Gender Bias ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Feminist Analysis ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Self Objectification

This research paper attempts to investigate the representation of women, their character and their rights in Dave Eggers’ novel A Hologram for the King (2012), according to the feministic approach to literary works. Gender bias has been reflected in many literary works from classical canonical works to contemporary literary ones and has been dealt with in many critical pieces. The theme of self-objectification, which is closely tied to gender bias to some extent, has not been analyzed, independently and fully, especially in the literature of the post-colonial era. The current study scrutinizes the writer’s portrayal of women characters in order to uncover the replication of the same stereotypes and gender bias categories against women, dominant in the literary works before the post-colonial era. Based on the feminist approach, A Hologram for the King is identified as a misogynist work although it is written in postmodern era. The author of the novel, is inspired by men’s superiority, creates a completely distorted image of women by introducing them as people who turn themselves into objects of pleasure for men. The novelist further deprives women of their rights and misrepresents them as unprincipled humans, disparaging them as naïve and sexually licentious creatures. After all, this study becomes a means of writing back against marginalization of women, in their picturization and their subordination to men.

scholarly journals Gender and racial trauma in Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Ramesh Prasad Adhikary
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Women ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Cultural Trauma ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Racial Trauma ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Voice

This paper analyses racial and gender trauma evoking the tormented state of the narrator, Maya in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Based on the cultural trauma, the researcher analyses the experiences of depressed African American women without identities. The narrator struggles to develop her dignified self and nonconformist outlook comes to block her after she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend Mr. Freeeman. The mysterious murder of her rapist creates the guilt, shame in her psychic as she thinks that she is responsible for his murder. The narrator suffering from the guilt and self-loathing results in her psychic turmoil. She stops speaking to people except her brother, Bailey. In the novel, Angelou tries to raise the voice of Black women to achieve dignified identity in the white racist and sexist America looking back on her childhood experiences. In this regard, this research aims to show reasons that cause the traumatic situation in the narrator due to several events that erupt in African American societies. Not only this, this research work explores issues related to the cause of racial and gender trauma and discusses how the narrator succeeds in working through trauma while in some cases the narrator just acts out it. Key Words: Race, Gender, Cultural trauma, Psychic turmoil, identity, self

Reversal of Stereotypes in Alice Walker's The Color Purple: God, Gender, Narrative and Sexuality

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-21
Author(s):  
Morshedul Arifin ◽  
◽  
Shah Ahmed ◽  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Alice Walker ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Color Purple ◽  
African American Authors ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Color Purple ◽  
American Authors

Unlike most African-American authors, who constantly mirror the repressive effects of racism, classicism and gender discrimination, Alice Walker (1944–) in her The Color Purple (1982) compulsively deals with sexism that was still pervasive within African American communities during the early twentieth century. She argues that just as black groups are relegated to an underclass due to the colour of their skin in a wider milieu of white society, in the same way the black women are reduced to a more inferior class due to their sex in their own community. For women’s self-emancipation from such an inhibitory patriarchy, the novel gives an overarching emphasis on the formation of language, execution of voice, review of sexual preference and redefinition of identity of her female characters, the protagonist Celie in particular. This paper examines how, by a fusion of the bildungsroman and epistolary conventions, the novelist melds a unique way for her women creating a God for their own and carving out a niche in social and economic concerns. It assesses the strategic reversal of gender stereotype as well as sexual orientation in order to establish the independence and equality of women on a par with men. The paper ends up with the claim that the novel is predicated upon the theoretical prism of womanism, previously premised by Walker herself, which puts extensive emphasis on a deeper, empathetic relationship and camaraderie of women.

scholarly journals A Feminist Critique of “Voice” and the “Other” in J.M. Coetzee’s Post-colonial Novel “Foe”

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Nushrat Azam
Keyword(s):  
Female Character ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Robinson Crusoe ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Voice And Silence ◽  
Colonial Text

This paper seeks to analyze the techniques and effects of voice and silence in the life of a female character in J. M. Coetzee’s Foe. The analysis shows how the character of Susan Barton in Foe gives readers a feminine perspective on the famous tale of Robinson Crusoe. The method of investigation is a critical examination of the characterization of the female character; the research analyzes the events, actions and the interactions of Susan Barton, with a sight to identify how the character of Susan is portrayed in the novel. The analysis shows that while Susan is able to find a “voice” in some parts of this post-colonial text, her constant submission to strong male characters in the novel ends up showing a picture of a frail woman who defines her existence and individuality relative to men in her life. It strengthens the fact that women were still struggling to free themselves from the patriarchal domination of the post-colonial era.

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