scholarly journals Longing, Belonging and Gender Relations in Bina Shah’s Novel Where They Dream in Blue.

Al-Burz ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Najia Asrar Zaidi ◽  
Saima Manzoor ◽  
Farhan Ebadaat Khan

The purpose of this study is to analyse the quest for identity as revealed in Bina shah’s first novel “Where dream in Blue”. South Asian reality is not static but dynamic. Shah’s orientalised glamour and hybrid dialogue affirms her knowledge of the cultures and societies being depicted in the novel. This novel is significant as it discusses the ambivalent representation of her central characters. She focuses on the issues of immigrants living in USA and their collision and collusion with the culture of the country of their origin. This interaction of immigrants with their own culture and that of their acquired culture produces identity-crisis, displacement, differences with their parents and the ongoing battle within themselves. Karim and Afsar being the victim of double civilization learn to deal with their expectations, disappointments, aspirations and achievements. Unveiling the power relation between the genders, the representation of women is interesting as they adopt various courses of action to counter discrimination and bias. The hero also refutes fixed notions of the West and the standardized practices of the East. By challenging the set norms, the protagonists contest fixity and create safe third space for their survival. 

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-93
Author(s):  
Ahmed Saad Aziz

This study is aimed at finding a narrative of Muslim self-aftermath of 9/11 in the West when it was swept with hatred against Muslims leading to the rise of Islamophobia which is herself experienced by the novelist, Monica Ali. Penning from her own experience, the novel, Brick Lane (2003) can be considered as real experience of many people who were held responsible for crime committed. This study employs descriptive qualitative method in dealing with the rise of islamophobia in the West after the incident of 9/11. This is the textual analysis of the experiences of diasporic Muslim couple from Bangladesh living in London and being the witness of the rise of xenophobia in the form of islamophobia aftermath of 9/11. This evaluation and interpretation are importance in the contemporary scenario as there is a continuous rise of such incidents in Europe and America in different ways. The outcome of these incidents is that it is mostly the innocent Muslims who are being attacked for a crime committed by others.The result shows the bitter experience of simple Bangladeshi Muslims immigrant who struggled for identity crisis in a multicultural highly educated world. It also reflects the personal experiences of writer herself as she being a Bangladeshi is living in West. The result was evaluated by examining Bangladeshi immigrant characters and their various circumstances and situations in the novel. Moreover, the point is that people of South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan prefer to live and work in West for better standard of living, education and job prospects.


2019 ◽  
pp. 83-90
Author(s):  
Izabella Kimak

This essay constitutes an attempt at reading Bharati Mukherjee’s 2011 novel, Miss New India, through the prism of spatial locations depicted in it. Unlike many of the texts in the late South Asian American author’s oeuvre, which depict migration from the East to the West, Miss New India is located exclusively within South Asia. This notwithstanding, the novel focuses on the impact the West used to and continues to exert on the East. I would like to argue that through her depictions of places and non-places of Bangalore-the novel’s primary location-Mukherjee points to the spatial interconnectedness of the East and the West as well as to the temporal interconnectedness of the colonial past and postcolonial, late-capitalist present.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Nor Fatin Abdul Jabar ◽  
Kamariah Yunus ◽  
Nurul Fatihah Muhamad Nazmi ◽  
Muhammad Farriz Aziz ◽  
Nurul Afiqah Muhammad Zani

In today’s reality, there is a definite gap when it comes to men’s and women’s participation in politics. It can be seen that the society prefers men to lead them, make decisions and solve problems. The society assumes men to have better leadership qualities, but people tend to be sceptical when it comes to women. In Syria, men’s responsibilities as leaders and the ones who make decisions are valued highly by the Syrian society. They believe that men’s power and abilities to lead are more stable, prosperous and secure than women. Among the society, women are considered as subordinates and excluded from negotiations. This matter is highlighted in Syrian literature too, especially in novels and writings since masculinity, is practiced in Syrian society. This present study attempted to investigate the gender stereotypes on politics portrayed in the novel “In Praise of Hatred”, by Khaled Khalifa. The present study employed a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach to investigate the pragmatic representation of politics portrayed in the controversial Syrian novel. The findings focused on the representation of women in politics. To this end, Van Dijk’s Social-political Discourse Analysis Approach was adopted to reveal the ideology behind the constructions. The issues of gender and politics were analysed based on the pragmatic representation in the novel. Adopting the Social-political Discourse Analysis approach under Sociocognitive Discourse Studies (SCDS), the criteria of social aspects (politics and gender) were being looked at thoroughly. Regarding subject positions, the data analysis showed that the portrayal of gender is always biased and women’s participation in politics is not encouraged.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 11-19
Author(s):  
Mira Misra

South Asian feminist scholars have attempted to comprehend both the nature of interconnections between caste and gender relations and women’s complicity in sustaining patriarchy and caste system. This presentation seeks to answer a few key questions regarding the interconnection between caste and gender. It also seeks to answer the question regarding how and why women in Nepal wittingly and unwittingly help maintain the caste system that underlies their own subordination. The answers are framed within the ongoing dynamics of society in Nepal.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-27
Author(s):  
Samal Marf Mohammed

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.


eTopia ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Krahn

Daphne Marlatt's novel Ana Historic presents a female-oriented version of historical events not based on male-centered modes of representation. Marlatt fictionalizes aspects of historical and literary documents to carve out a space for an imagined female history that counters masculine production- based narratives previouslywritten about the logging camps of British Columbia. Ana Historic provides a concise look at previous representations of resources and women, which offers insight into how these issues inform a contemporary viewpoint regarding natural resources. Moreover, if the environmental crisis we are experiencing globally is a result of industrialization, have women been manufactured in a similar fashion? And if so, how can North Americans attempt to counter environmental crisis from a societal perspective that is heavily implicated in upholding patriarchal structures? The answer extends beyond mere syllogism, and into the complicated realm of capital: both monetary and social. Revisiting Ana Historic  in our current moment of environmental uncertainty reflects the interconnected relationship between so-called natural spaces and engendered representation. This causes an identity crisis for landscapes and gender, leading to the manipulation of these spaces by established patriarchal institutions and industrializing structures. This represents an extension beyond the consideration of women as "Mother Nature" and relates specifically to their manipulation by men into resources that furthermale capital. Marlatt's transformation of the forest into a manufactured product mimics her transformation of the female protagonists into appropriately functioning wives and mothers. Marlatt's main protagonists Ana, Ina, Annie resist manufacture and become the monsters of male-functions. The transformation of landscapes and women involves looking at the forest as represented in the natural environment, the sawmill, and the finished product. The malfunction of the proper male functioning in the novel is what I come to label as mal(e)functions. The term mal(e)functions, while embodying the simultaneity of two words also represents the non male-oriented spaces in the novel; that of the forest and the female protagonists. The split in the term also represents the fissures of male centered narratives where women and environmental consciousness can exist.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-68
Author(s):  
Seema Parveen ◽  
Prof. Tanveer Khadija

This paper intends to explore the transformations with disintegration literary pieces of Bharati  Mukherjee has gained a milestone as she brings out the segregation experienced by the immigrants of South Asian Countries. Through her novels, she voices her personal life experiences to show the reconstructing shape of American Society. She centrally locates her emphasis on the women characters their struggle for identity, their harsh experiences and their final emergence as the self- assertive, self opinioned individuals free from fear imposed on them. The list of Diasporic writer is too long and the root of Diaspora is so deep. Through the novel Jasmine, Bharati Mukherjee focuses the multicultural identity of a woman. This paper is an effort to portray the bitter experiences of homelessness, displacement, oppression and exploitation of protagonist Jasmine.


Author(s):  
Sandra Santos

This article's aim is to analyze the space, place and gender relations in Native American culture in the novel Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko, and the concepts discussed by Doreen Massey, Jody Berland, Alison Blunt and Gillian Rose. The novel, whose focus is on the healing process of a Native American young man, a World War II veteran, shows how the space, place and gender relations in the Native American culture differ from the ones we see in the patriarchal family structure common to the western culture. In this way, I intend to discuss this difference between the spaces and places occupied by women and man in both cultures.


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