Ideologies of gender representation in Hekayat Shaʕbia min Masˁr (2012)

Abstract

This paper examines how Egyptian folktales, as represented in the sampled data, construct ideologies of femininity and masculinity. 1 It looks into gender representation from a critical stylistic perspective in El Ashmawy’s (2012) Hekayat shaʕbia men Masˁr [Folktales from Egypt]. Drawing on Jeffries’s (2010) critical stylistic model, the present study utilizes two major tools of textual-conceptual function, namely: (i) naming and describing, and (ii) representation of actions, events, and states. It sets off with a content-focused, thematic analysis of El Ashmawy’s seven folktales. Then the author analyzes the data using the selected textual-conceptual toolkit. The paper primarily explores linguistic encoding of value systems and beliefs, latent in the texts, to unveil the ideologies encoded via linguistic resources. The conceptual-textual function of “naming” and “describing” as well as representation of actions, events, and states linguistically reflect culturally rooted ideologies. Findings show that strategies of naming label men according to their occupational roles, which is directly related to the social and referential gender. Women, on the other hand, are mainly labeled according to their domestic roles within the family category. In terms of describing strategies, folktales associate men sometimes with strength, and other times with helplessness, whereas women are associated with either beauty or resourcefulness in a few cases. Moreover, men are seen as agents, capable of action, whereas women are basically represented, rather than in action. It is commonly agreed that folktales reflect and reproduce ideologies within a community. Unveiling the ideologies residing in folktales can hence explain many of the present time’s prevailing beliefs and values and can also be a tool for propagating balanced conceptualization of gender roles.