Patriarchal Narratives Research Articles

Medusa's Evolution: From Mythological Monster to Feminist Icon – A Reflection of Shifting Societal Narratives?

This research paper analyses and compares the myth of Medusa in ancient and modern times, through literature, art, media, pop culture and psychoanalysis to determine whether the modern reinterpretation of Medusa’s story is a genuine transformation or merely a repurpose of Medusa’s image without addressing the deeper issues of gender, power and sexuality. By recasting Medusa into modern feminist narratives, scholars and philosophers like Freud, Lacan, Cixous and Butler help challenge the patriarchal narratives and try to subvert traditional gender roles. Through these feminist theories, we are able to overlook the traditional portrayal of Medusa with a fresh eye. Though there are limitations to interpretations of Medusa’s image, they are less in comparison to literature that has appropriately used the myth of Medusa to raise questions about violence and discrimination against women in modern times. The paper challenges whether modern reinterpretation is seen as Medusa’s “glow up” or “glow down” by examining examples of literature, art and pop culture.

‘Delighting in fighting “a womanless past”: remembering Dale Spender (1943–2023)’

ABSTRACT In November 2023, Australian-born literary scholar and feminist historian Dale Spender (1943–2023) passed away. Anyone researching early Australian women writers knows of Spender. Perhaps others do not. Yet, her memory is vital for those invested in uncovering the immense and invaluable contribution of women to the making of nineteenth- and twentieth century history (in the ‘West’). In this dedication to her memory, I focus on Spender’s commitment to exposing the rich veins of modern feminist history that have been overshadowed, if not completely buried, by dominant patriarchal narratives. I explain how her work resonates powerfully with the feminist historian-activist keen to assuage the fears of younger generations who worry that they have to begin the overwhelming project of feminism anew.

The Subaltern: Illuminating matters of representation and agency in mental health nursing through a postcolonial feminist lens.

Inpatient mental health nursing operates with an overarching goal to support people living with mental health challenges by managing risk of harm to self and others, decreasing symptoms, and promoting capacity to live outside of hospital settings. Yet, dominant, harmful stereotypes persist, constructing patients as less than, in need of saving, and lacking self-control and agency. These dominant assumptions are deeply entrenched in racist, patriarchal, and Othering beliefs and continue to perpetuate and (re)produce inequities, specifically for people with multiple intersecting identities relating to race, class, gender, and culture. This paper explores the relevance of postcolonial feminism, particularly Gayatri Spivak's concept of Subaltern-conceptualized as groups of people who are denied access to power and therefore continue to be systematically oppressed and marginalized-in illuminating the problematic and dominant assumptions about people living with mental health challenges as lacking agency and requiring representation. Through an understanding of Subalternity, this paper aims to decenter and deconstruct dominant colonial, patriarchal narratives in mental health nursing, and ultimately calls for mental health nursing to fundamentally reconsider prevailing assumptions of patients as needing representation and lacking agency.

Investigating the Linguistics Features, Impacts, and Corresponding Strategies of Translation in Feminist Literature

With the growing interest in feminism, feminist translation has become an important field of study. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of feminist translation, focusing on its impact, linguistic characteristics, translation strategies, and applications. It explores how feminist translation critically engages with language to address gender biases and patriarchal norms. The analysis underscores the significance of feminist translation in promoting gender equality and empowering marginalized voices. The discussion on linguistic characteristics highlights how feminist translation scrutinizes gendered language, stereotypes, and linguistic bias. It emphasizes the need to challenge the use of gender-specific terms and advocates for more inclusive language practices. Alternative strategies, such as gender-inclusive language and cultural adaptation, are examined as effective means to challenge linguistic biases and promote equality. Furthermore, the examination of translation strategies delves into the interventions employed by feminist translators. These strategies aim to disrupt patriarchal narratives, expose gender biases, and foster critical dialogue. They include amplifying women's visibility and agency, introducing alternative readings, and incorporating cultural adaptations. The applications of feminist translation in various domains are explored, revealing its impact and transformative potential. Specifically, in literature and arts, feminist translation amplifies marginalized voices, challenges traditional gendered narratives, and facilitates cross-cultural exchange. In legal and political discourse, it addresses gender biases in laws and policy documents. Additionally, feminist translation plays a role in media and activism, disrupting harmful representations and promoting social justice. Feminist translation emerges as a dynamic and transformative practice that confronts gender biases, challenges oppressive discourses, and advocates for gender equality. It recognizes the power of language to shape societal norms and actively employs strategies to subvert gender biases within translation.

Ruby Rich’s Dream Library: Feminist Memory-Keeping as an Archive of Affective Mnemonic Practices

In the so-called West, feminist activists and scholars have long been traumatised by the erasure of their histories via dominant patriarchal narratives, which has served as an impediment to the intergenerational transmission of feminist knowledge. Recently, while acknowledging the very real and ongoing impact of this historical omission, some feminists have issued a call to turn away from a narrative of women’s history as ‘serial forgetting’ and towards an acknowledgement of the affirmative capacity of feminist remembering. At the same time, memory theorist Ann Rigney has advocated for a ‘positive turn’ in memory studies, away from what she perceives to be the field’s gravitation towards trauma and instead towards an analysis of life’s positive legacies. In this article, I combine both approaches to investigate one feminist memory-keeper’s archive, analysing what it reveals about ‘the mechanisms by which positive attachments are transmitted across space and time’. Throughout her life, little-known ‘between-the-waves’ Australian feminist Ruby Rich (1888–1988) performed multiple intersecting activist activities. While she created feminist memories through her work for various political organisations, she also collected, stored and transmitted feminist memories through her campaign for a dedicated space for women’s collections in the National Library of Australia. Propelled by fear of loss and inspired by hope for remembering, Rich constructed a brand of archival activism that was both educational and emotional. In this paper, I examine the strategies Rich employed to try to realise her dream of effecting intellectual and affective bonds between future feminists and their predecessors.

Spectacular Women: Recovering the Feminine in Elena Ferrante’s I giorni dell’abbandono

ABSTRACT This article seeks to explore the models for female existence depicted in Elena Ferrante’s I giorni dell’abbandono (2002), specifically those which bypass conceptualisation according to patriarchal prescriptions for female behaviour. I examine the ways in which Ferrante presents female existence as controlled by patriarchal narratives, before shifting to an exploration of the processes that allow a transcendence of such narratives. This article suggests that I giorni dell’abbandono presents a framework through which women are able to conceptualise the world and their existence through relation to each other, undoing the alienating and limiting forces of patriarchal oppression.

Deconstructing Ex Machina (2014): a feminist-psychoanalytic exploration of female artificial intelligences

This article examines the portrayal of female artificial intelligences (AIs) in Hollywood's science fiction (SF) films, with a primary focus on Ex Machina. Employing feminist and psychoanalytic perspectives, the study critically reassesses how socio-cultural expectations and patriarchal desires shape the cinematic representation of female AIs. It seeks to address a nuanced gap by revealing the unconscious psychological forces that mold gendered imprints within technology and analyzing how (female) AIs, positioned as posthuman beings, not only mirror but engage in the construction of femininity for the fulfillment of male fantasies and the subversion of male dominance, accomplished through the strategic manipulation of “artificial skin” and gynoid bonding. Finally, this paper aims to contribute to the broader discourse on gender dynamics surrounding female AIs and their power relations with humanity in the cinematic SF. It explores the narrative functions of intelligent fembots, which may disrupt patriarchal narratives both in reel life and, perhaps, real life.

“Lesbian nation is Amazon culture: Lesbian separatism and the uses of Amazons”

In this article, Amazon imagery serves as a case study for the complicated relationship of lesbian separatist movements of the 1970s and the classical Greek tradition. I consider how the use of mythological figures allowed lesbian feminists to rewrite and subvert dominant patriarchal narratives in ways that furthered their revolutionary projects. I argue that the nature of mythology is fundamentally fluid, collaborative, and open to queer reinterpretations and appropriations in ways that are rich with symbolic potential. Furthermore, the creation of separatist communities approximates an act of nation-building, and it is useful to consider other attempts to construct and theorize nations, ranging from Homi Bhabha on post-/anticolonial resistance to Berlant and Freeman on Queer Nationality. In particular, when considering a lesbian movement, we should remember that queer theory is messy because queerness itself is messy and resists boundaries and classification. Furthermore, what Ward frames as “dyke methods” (or dyke-centric queer methods) insist on categories that are fluid, messy, and shifting in their classifications and drawn toward as-yet-unknown queer possibilities. To study lesbian separatists with dyke methods is to embark on “an antiessentialist and interdisciplinary project” without necessarily “making a commitment to balanced ideas” (pp. 82–83). It is my hope that a messy, queer analysis of Amazonian symbolism in the construction of a lesbian nationalism will ultimately offer intriguing, if at times contradictory, possibilities.

Caring for the Weeds

Care is a slippery notion, especially in times of ecological upheavals when a seemingly benign metaphor could have the power to instigate a new social, political or environmental change. Due to its instrumentalisation in theoretical and practical endeavours as a gendered concept, caring as environmental consciousness loses its potential to facilitate active change in day-to-day urban activities and risks becoming a violent tool trapped in patriarchal narratives (Macgregor, 2007). This article draws from the interdependencies between artistic expressions of urban activism and plant specificities and agencies through a vegetalised approach (Myers, 2021) to interspecies entanglements. The main section investigates plant/human relationships from an ecofeminist perspective, by offering an overview of the interweavings of public gardening, the representation of wastelands and how collective ‘response-ability’ (Haraway, 2016) is reformulated in the context of caring for informal urban spaces. The practice and artistic interventions of Sophie Leguil and Lois Weinberger will unravel how tending to marginalized plants facilitates an empowering caring perspective, producing speculative narratives to overcome anthropocentric and violent views. By invoking the concept of plant-thinking (Marder, 2013), the second part of the article will focus on other artistic expressions where human and vegetal subjectivities co-evolve, revealing a way to mix the economy of grassroots movements with the politics of cosmopolitan environmental consciousness, encouraging action across differences, intra- and among species. The article concludes by showing the transformative potential of Dagna Jakubowska’s installation Weeds (2021) and Ellie Irons’ performative laboratory Feral and Invasive Pigments (2012 - ongoing) to encourage new visions of caring for environment as a political act.

Representation of the Concept “Water” in Literature: An Eco-Feminist Perspective

This paper explores the representation of the concept of “water” within literature from an eco-feminist perspective, highlighting the intersections between environmental and gender issues. By analyzing the works of Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov, alongside a broader linguistic and cultural investigation into the concept of water in the Kyrgyz worldview, the paper reveals how water serves as a powerful symbol of life, purity, and continuity. Aitmatov's works, deeply rooted in the ecological landscapes of Kyrgyzstan, often portray water not merely as a physical substance but as a carrier of cultural and spiritual values, reflecting a profound connection between the land and its people. Through an eco-critical and feminist lens, the paper examines how these literary depictions of water challenge anthropocentric and patriarchal narratives, proposing a more inclusive relationship with the natural world. By integrating ecocriticism with feminist theory, the analysis explores the significance of water in expressing themes of fertility, sustenance, and resilience, which are often intertwined with the experiences and voices of women. The paper argues that the eco-feminist perspective offers valuable insights into the ways literature can contribute to a deeper understanding of environmental issues and gender dynamics, advocating for a more sustainable and equitable coexistence with nature.

"A Person Like Me": Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Gender, and Racial Immunity in the Twentieth-Century United States.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disorder that affects mostly women and disproportionately Black women. Until the 1940s, SLE was rarely diagnosed in Black Americans, reflecting racist medical beliefs about Black immunity. In the 1940s and 1950s, SLE and its treatment were part of a patriarchal narrative of American industrialization. By the 1960s, newer diagnostic techniques increased recognition of SLE, especially among Black women; medical thinking about SLE shifted from external causes like infection or allergy to autoimmunity, which emphasized biological, genetically determined racial difference. In the 1970s and 1980s, an advocacy structure crystalized around memoirs by women with SLE, which emphasized the experiences of able-bodied, economically privileged white women, while Black feminist health discourse and SLE narratives by Black authors grappled with SLE's more complicated intersections. Throughout the twentieth century, SLE embodied immunity as a gendered, racialized, and culturally invested process.

Subverting Patriarchal Narratives: Exploring Bhyrappa's Depiction of Sita Through Historiographic Metafiction

The Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic, has been retold and rewritten in various narrative forms by numerous writers from different countries. It has a global appeal that has inspired authors worldwide to create unique Ramayanas. Among these recreations, Bhyrappa's Uttarakaanda stands out with its multiple story views. This research paper, titled “Subverting Patriarchal Narratives: Exploring Bhyrappa’s Depiction of Sita Through Historiographic Metafiction,” delves into the author's methods of retelling the age-old narrative. The present study utilizes the conceptual frameworks of postmodernism, with a particular emphasis on historiographic metafiction. By delving into the deconstruction of grand narratives and questioning traditional elements that impede women's rights, the article aims to shed light on important thematic concerns. Specifically, the primary focus of this research lies in the analysis of the author's work titled 'Sitayana,' where the narrative spotlight is shifted from Rama to Sita. Through a meticulous examination of the author's adept incorporation of alternative perspectives, the paper explores how this approach resonates with both Indian literature and its readership. Moreover, the article critically engages with the power dynamics that influenced Rama's actions and shaped his understanding of dharma.

Feminine or Patriarchal: Story of Adam and Eve in Urdu Novels by Women Writers

The current research attempted to analyze the novels written by eminent women writers in the Urdu language, that is, Bano Qudsia, Jamila Hashmi, and Khadija Mastoor, to understand the usage and interpretation of religious narrative of Adam and Hawwa in their writings [Eve]. The study focused on narrations, such as creating Eve from Adam’s rib and expulsion of Adam and Hawwa from heaven. Jamila Hashmi, Bano Qudsia, and Khadija Mastoor’s notable novels have been included in the current study. The main objective was to ascertain if the symbolic and metaphorical usage and interpretation of creation of Eve in these works, is feminine or otherwise. Moreover, the study also showed that the feminine expression which is called as ‘nisaai’ in Urdu, is a myth when seen in connection with the interpretation of religious narration of Adam and Eve’s tale. The theoretical lens of feminist theology was used and critique of Fatema Mernissi and Riffat Hassan was referred to for this purpose. It may be concluded that the understanding of these particular religious’ narratives and their symbolic and metaphorical usage, is inspired by and received from pure patriarchal interpretation of religious texts. Moreover, it has not been challenged by, or seen in the light of any feminist critique of patriarchal interpretations of religious texts, by the woman writers included in this study. Additionally, the presence of pure patriarchal interpretation of other religious symbols was observed while exploring works included in the current study. The patriarchal narrative has not been challenged in any way by the women novelists as far as the religious texts or their usage in their works is concerned.

“Imprecise Hyperboles” and a “Noble Ruse”: The Longevity of the Ancients and the Patriarchal Narratives of Moses in Eleazar Ashkenazi’s Revealer of Secrets

Abstract: Among biblical accounts that invite skepticism, the antediluvian genealogies of Genesis have long attracted attention, with Methuselah famously living close to a millennium and others nearly as long. This study explores an analysis of the issue and its cognates in Revealer of Secrets ( Ẓafenat paʿneaḥ ), a fourteenth-century Torah commentary by Eleazar Ashkenazi that has only recently reentered the light of history. Striking is Eleazar’s teaching that Moses composed the chrono-genealogies in Genesis based on sundry traditions that contained “imprecise narrative hyperboles.” Eleazar also suggests that the patriarchal narratives are a “noble ruse” designed to inculcate belief in the world’s creation. Eleazar's exploration of the topic provides an entrée into the fertile mind and spirited pen of this barely known late medieval rationalist as well as into an unstudied chapter in the history of Jewish reflection on a challenging biblical crux that evoked much reflection and a rich medley of larger religious themes.

Video activism in feminist movements in Turkey

ABSTRACT Video activism is among the predominant forms of contemporary digital activism. In networked cultures dominated by social media platforms, video activism has seen various transformations. This paper investigates the role of video activism within the feminist movements in Turkey in the context of digital culture. In-depth interviews have been conducted to explore the tactics of feminist video activists. In particular, the tactics of feminist video activists have been analysed at four levels: video production, video distribution, video ethics and video archiving. The results show how networked video activism contributes to the feminist movements at three levels: the creation of feminist media as an alternative to patriarchal narratives, the organisation of affect and solidarity among women and finally, self-reflexivity and subjectification for activists.

“You Shall Not Marry a Canaanite!” Endogamy, (Canaanite) Exogamy and Theology in Genesis 12–50

Abstract In Gen 12–50 the interactions between the patriarchs and the Canaanites are more positive than in the later Hebrew Scriptures, with the exception of the ban on marriage. This article examines the relevant passages in Genesis (24; 26:34–28:9; 34 and especially 38), reading them canonically, particularly in light of the patriarchal promises which form a key underlying theme of the patriarchal narratives. It is argued that while the passages discourage exogamy, the situation is more complex than a simple ban. This is particularly so in the case of Tamar (Gen 38). While (probably) Canaanite she is the hero of the story and the ancestor of both David and Jesus, becoming an important part of the fulfilment of the promises. A brief comparison with the conquest narratives suggest that this complexity is also evident there, and that the focus is not on ethnicity but on one’s attitude to YHWH.

DRAWING IS A WAY OF FIGHTING: THE COMICS OF THE INDIGENOUS INDIA

The tribal arts of India have traditionally held a significant cultural and historical place. Despite the unique visual languages seen in contemporary American or Franco-Belgian BD and Japanese manga, the Indian tribal art, predominantly created by tribal women for generations, is often neglected in the context of Indian comics. This study aims to examine the visual language inherent in tribal art and how it has been employed in two specific comics: Sita`s Ramayana and Bhimayana. Both comics are drawn by tribal women, Moyna Chitrakar and Durga Bai Vyam, respectively, and showcase a unique visual language in Indian comics. These styles bring to light issues related to the ‘other’, such as casteism and reservations, and challenge patriarchal narratives through an ecofeminist perspective. Being in part a distinct language in comics- these styles are not that much noticed in popular culture of the mainstream for that matter. This paper asserts how artists of these specific tribes have moulded the language of comics in a way to be able to speak for themselves while using their own methods at disposal. This paper also tries to probe whether this is just a symbolic resistance forged by the publishing houses to exploit the women artists from the Indian tribal communities as a machinery to provide for a new taste to the Urban audience. All in all, this article tries to locate the portrayal of social and political issues raised in the comics of the marginal gender, from the marginal communities.

토니 모리슨의 『사랑』에 나타난 사랑의 여성윤리

This study focuses on the dual narrative structure of Toni Morrison’s Love. While the narrative unfolds the characters’ internal monologues and omnipotent voice through a third-person perspective, it is framed by the spectral voice of the first-person narrator, L. L’s subtle, humming voice interjects into the main narrative, providing analytical insights into events and characters. Her sensory, fragmented narration is intimately tied to Julia Kristeva’s concept of “herethics”—a transgressive ethics of love rooted in maternal relationships that embraces self/other ambiguity and challenges hierarchical patriarchal order. L manipulates Cosey’s will and weaves characters’ stories into a therapeutic quilt, thereby revealing patriarchal narrative, maintained through female hostility, while also creating a space for the reconciliation of the shattered relationship between Heed and Christine, potentially extended to Junior and the readers. This study elucidates how L’s narration challenges patriarchal language, disrupts social hierarchies, and extends a hand of invitation to others into an intersubjective relationship grounded in the heretic ethics of love.

Of ties and lies: Ethical disruptions in Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister the Serial Killer (2018)

ABSTRACT Within the landscape of contemporary Nigerian literature, the debut novel of Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister, the Serial Killer (2018), stands out for its blend of black humour, ethical aspersions, denouncement of patriarchal violence, and unreliable narration. Readers are bound to sympathize with two criminal sisters, despite the decidedly thorny situation they are immersed in: stunning Ayoola inadvertently kills her boyfriends and connives with her sister Korede, a nurse who effectively disposes of the corpses. This article will revisit some considerations of entropic humour and comic distance with a view to demonstrating why the sisters are granted a redeeming opportunity. Additionally, it will examine the effects of domestic trauma – mainly from an African-centred perspective – and a possible fictional unlearning of patriarchal narratives. Finally it will focus on the role of the narrator’s unreliability in order to underscore the additional ironical undercurrents of the novel’s layered plot.

Gender and Succession in Medieval and Early Modern Islam: Bilateral Descent and the Legacy of Fatima

Gender and Succession in Medieval and Early Modern Islam: Bilateral Descent and the Legacy of Fatima