Postcolonial Feminist Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of the Novel and the Film of the Joy Luck Club from the Perspective of Postcolonial Feminism

The Chinese American female writer Amy Tan published the autobiographical novel The Joy Luck Club in 1989. After four years, the story was adapted into a film of the same name, written by Amy Tan and directed by Chinese American Wayne Wang. Afterward, Chinese and foreign scholars studied from the perspectives of feminism, Chinese identity, Chinese and Western cultural conflict and the mother-daughter relationship. In China, few scholars combine the theories of post-colonialism and feminism to study the original work and film adaptation of The Joy Luck Club. The research finds that although the film successfully restores the main plot and retains the spirit core of the novel, it also has the following problems: strong orientalist overtones, de-emphasizing female narrative voices, and ignoring Asian marginalization. Through a close reading of the novel and a deep interpretation of the film, this article makes a comparative study of the two from the perspective of Spivak's postcolonial feminist theory and explores the deficiencies after the film adaptation. It is found that these deficiencies occur because the director is influenced by postcolonial cultural background and traditional patriarchy. He falsifies the women's right to discourse in the third world, making them unable to speak for themselves independently.

Transnational CSR: A postcolonial feminist reading of women’s experiences at the workplace

Transnational CSR: A postcolonial feminist reading of women’s experiences at the workplace

PATRIARCHAL, RACIAL AND SOCIAL OPPRESSION ON ADAH AND HER EMANCIPATION THROUGH EDUCATION AND WRITING IN BUCHI EMECHETA’S SECOND CLASS CITIZEN

Buchi Emecheta is a prominent Nigerian writer in African feminist literature. In Buchi Emecheta’s novel Second Class Citizen (1994), the protagonist Adah suffers from tripple oppression. Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen (1994) puts emphasis on the concerns of racism, gender, sexism, marriage, bride price, polygamy, women’s obligation to bear male children, education, financial freedom, and writing fiction, as well as class oppression. In her opinion, subalternation and oppression of African women should be put an end. Buchi Emecheta analyzes the gender, class, and race intersectionality in her novel Second Class Citizen as a representation of African female literature on the basis of patriarchy. The analysis is made from the post-colonial feminist and Afro-centric perspective; therefore, it reveals how the social and ideological constructions of gender, class, and race cause racism, classism, and sexism in society. The female character, Adah, lives in the margins both at home and in the public. Emecheta not only wants to underline the patriarchal roots of her own Igbo tribe, but also wants to be critical of the British society that lets them stay in second-class citizen conditions. Adah has to experience the feeling of being the other in Western society whereas she has to struggle with the paternal thoughts of the African culture. In her novel, Emecheta underlines the lack of educational opportunities for girls in a culture which pushes girls to grow up as obedient wives. The novel clearly illustrates the difficulties of Igbo immigrants in London, who are regarded as second-class citizens, are supposed to stay in hovels in slum districts and simultaneously cope with the problems of sexual discrimination both in the domestic sphere as well as in the public sphere. As a black woman, the main character is both trapped by her gender and race. In her post-colonial feminist depiction, Emecheta attributes tripple oppression to Adah character. With her description of the protagonist, Adah, the author shows how it was difficult to be a black woman both in Nigeria and in England. Emecheta is not only critical of the gender discrimination practices in her own country, but also wants to criticize the hostilities in England towards the black people. In accordance with Floya Anthias and Nira Yuval Davis’ ideas, this article will argue that Adah has complex relations with her state as a black woman who suffers from patriarchy, racism and class distinction. Thus, this study articulates how Adah Obi is dejected in the patriarchal discourses of Nigeria or England and how she is marginalized as a black woman, as an immigrant, as a young girl, and as a woman. Finally, Adah’s gaining self- confidence and her self affirmation will be related to Helene Cixous’ ideas about the importance of writing in women’s lives for their emancipation process.

Divulging Women's Plight: A Critical Examination of Gender Exploitation and Suppression in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s this Mournable Body

This article critically examines the portrayal of gender exploitation and suppression in Tsitsi Dangarembga's novel, This Mournable Body. Drawing on the legacy of early African female authors and the works of contemporary African female writers, the study explores the depiction of women in the novel and their experiences, challenges, and injustices. Using a postcolonial feminist approach and employing close reading as a method, the article probes the preconceptions, norms, and narratives within the novel that perpetuate gender inequality. It investigates the portrayal of female characters, their agency and representation, and the intersections of gender with other dimensions of identity. The analysis reveals how women in the novel are subjected to public abuse, including street harassment, public shaming, and victim-blaming and domestic exploitation. It also highlights the intense subjugation, discrimination, and oppression faced by women in the Zimbabwean society depicted in the novel in general. By shedding light on these issues, the research aims to contribute to the promotion of gender equality and social justice, elevate women's voices, challenge patriarchal myths, and advocate for radical transformation within and beyond the literary world. The article employs a systematic approach that combines textual analysis with a postcolonial feminist theoretical framework.

MIGRATION, IDENTITY AND RECONSTRUCTION OF FEMALE MIGRANTS’ EXPERIENCES IN CHIKA UNIGWE’S BETTER NEVER THAN LATE

This paper interrogates migration, identity and the nuances of female migrants’ experiences in Chika Unigwe’s Better Never than Late. The paper notes that, although women seem to have dominated the global migration flow, migration has mostly been considered from an overwhelmingly male perspective, perhaps, due to the male predominance in the process. This development, most often, creates complexes that diminish the identity and self-worth of women in their destination countries. It also leads to some misrepresentations and erroneous portrayal of migrant women in some literary and critical discourses on migration. Against this backdrop, this paper attempts a deconstruction and reconstruction of this perception and establishes that women, like men, are also active participants in the migration process and not merely appendages of male migrants. The paper adopts Post-colonial Feminist theory as its theoretical position and, through analysis of some extrapolations in some selected stories in Unigwe’s text mentioned above, the paper reveals that, given their multifaceted roles, women contribute immensely to the economic development of their countries of destination, through their competencies and skills. The paper concludes on an appeal note, that countries should evolve legal instruments that promote the rights of migrant women.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0015/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Unpacking postcolonial and masculine anxieties: Hungary and Turkey’s responses to the EU’s handling of the 2015–2016 refugee “crisis”

ABSTRACT In this article, we examine the Hungarian and Turkish responses to the EU’s handling of the 2015 refugee “crisis” through a postcolonial feminist IR framework. Drawing on hypermasculinity, we argue that both countries utilise migration to overcome their postcolonial and masculine anxieties by confronting their positions within the international hierarchies. Our examination of policy statements and speeches by Viktor Orbán and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan between 2015 and 2016 reveals three masculinised responses. First, both leaders portray themselves as acting out of paternal authority, while painting the EU as weak or inhumane. Second, they depict the EU as incompetent and their countries as competent providers of security. Third, they present themselves as protectors of European values, and the EU as in need of protection. These rhetorics suggest that both leaders used the “crisis” to challenge the current international hierarchy. Despite this, we argue that they are only concerned with their countries’ rankings within the hierarchy, not the system itself. Our postcolonial feminist reading of the “crisis” reveals that these masculinised framings are in fact counterproductive and only serve to confirm both Hungary and Turkey’s positions at the bottom of the international hierarchies, and their subordination to the EU as the EU’s others.

A study of postcolonial representation of sexual violence against female international students in Australian newspapers

ABSTRACT Sexual violence against female international students has received insufficient attention in academic research. This paper fills this void by analyzing how Australian newspaper articles, published from 2000 to 2019, portray sexual violence against these students through a critical framework informed by postcolonial feminist literature. The analysis reveals that the media tends to reinforce the idea of female international students as vulnerable and passive, reinforcing stereotypes through longstanding postcolonial tropes. Australian newspapers frequently portray them as ignorant, unhygienic, lacking credibility, or as exotic/sexual objects when covering sexual assault cases. Additionally, the media often invokes rape myths and engages in victim-blaming. Such representations in the newspaper may fail to offer a nuanced understanding of sexual violence experienced by female international students and downplay the importance of structural and environmental factors that contribute to this problem. The paper advocates for a change in media focus, urging great attention to structural and environmental factors while acknowledging the agency of international students. A more nuanced and contextualized understanding of sexual violence against female international students is crucial for developing effective prevention strategies that address the root causes of this issue.

Coloniality and women: Examining the claims of postcolonial feminism in the present context, with special reference to India

Coloniality and women: Examining the claims of postcolonial feminism in the present context, with special reference to India

Do Czech Women Need ‘Gender’?: A Conceptual History of ‘Gender’ in Czechia

In recent years, there has been a growing anti-feminist, conservative movement across many parts of the world known as the anti-gender movement. This movement has been especially strong in Central Eastern Europe, where anti-gender actors have framed ‘gender’ as a static, foreign concept imported from ‘the West’ and destructive to ‘traditional’ societies. Utilising a postcolonial feminist approach, I examine the concept of ‘gender’ in Czechia, drawing attention to the role played by Czech academics, activists and policymakers in negotiating the use of the term ‘gender’. This article traces the history of the term from the 1990s when ‘gender’ was first introduced to a Czech academic audience, through public seminars and lectures hosted by the Prague Gender Studies Centre, to the present-day inclusion of gender mainstreaming discourse in Czech policy documents. I reveal that ‘gender’ is not a timeless, clearly defined, fixed term wholly imported from ‘the West’ but rather a concept with a variable and complicated history. Thus, this crucial term, first developed in Anglo-academia, is not uncontested or uncritically accepted, contrary to the claims made by anti-gender actors. The findings presented in this article hold implications critical to transnational feminist dialogue and activism during the current period of growing global anti-feminist sentiment.

AN INSIGHT INTO THE POSTCOLONIAL FEMINISM USING ABDULLAH’S SHORT STORY “ASHES TO ASHES AND DUST TO DUST”

Postcolonial feminism is a collection of numerous ideologies aimed at explaining, initiating and preserving social, economical, political and legal rights of women in post-colonial settings. Many literary figures have put down their minds on paper to elaborate the themes of postcolonial feminism; Shaila Abdullah is one of those writers who have painted the miseries of feminine bodies in postcolonial milieu. This study concentrates on one of the short stories of Shaila entitled “ashes to ashes and dust to dust”, to explore the notions of oppression, power, hegemony and patriarchy through gender lens. Under the light of postcolonial feminism, the paper examines the protagonist of the story, ‘Dhool’ and investigates the relations and interactions between opposite genders to analyze impact of patriarchal society on the lives of feminine segments of society. The analysis depicts that the instances of patriarchy are universalized in the text, which dominate the physical and psychological state of the genders, specifically females. Through the demonstration of the courageous opposition of the character Dhool against patriarchy, the writer symbolizes the traces of feminism among postcolonial women. However, the overall journey of Dhool in the story validates the prominence of male power which makes her identity and physical presence devalued as well as makes her appearance not more than an object for men to fulfill their desires.

Romance, Power, and Female Oppression: A Textual Analysis of Shah Nawaz’s The Heart Divided

This study is based on a Pakistani Anglophone partition novel, Mumtaz Shah Nawaz’s The Heart Divided (1957). This research explores love and romance concerning power and female oppression in the above-mentioned novel. Major theoretical insights are drawn from Simone De Beauvoir’s groundbreaking text The Second Sex (1949) contextualizes love and romance to women in patriarchal societies. In addition to this theoretical support is taken from post-colonial feminism to contextualize and explain the gendered power imbalance and oppression experienced by the third-world women as presented through the fictional characters of the selected novel. This qualitative study hopes to demonstrate that within the South Asian patriarchal society, men use love and romance to oppress women and keep them within the patriarchal limits. It also aims to analyze how women experience, understand, and try to use love and romance as a power-giving strategy but is socially rejected. Men view love and romance differently from women who are more self-effacing and sacrificing in nature. Employing the method of textual analysis, this study also explores how love changes in times of war and can be a destructive force that brings hatred, revenge, and pain.

Reading Church Women hybridity From the Perspective of Postcolonial Feminism

In this paper, I would like to criticize the view that tries to generalize Korean church women. I would like to do this from the point of view of Gayatry Spivak and Trinh T. Min-ha. Both theorists do not look at the female subject in common but try to imagine it in various and hybrid wys. Korean church women cannot be called Asian women or even European women because they resemble American Christianity in terms of Christianity, but belong to Asia in terms of race. Theology or sermons conducted in Korean churches are not for women’s equality and liberation. Rather, interpretations and contents that demand obedience from women are the main ones. Theology of Korea needs to be widened by gender sensitivity which addresses the issues related to ‘women and their lives.’ I believe Gayatri Spivak’ and Trinh T. Min-ha’s ideas can help expand the perspective of looking at church women. Church women are the majority of those who hold conservative views, but some young women and women have views that are different from traditional Christian positions if they are equipped with femininity. Therefore, in this article, I would like to briefly discuss how to listen to the voices of women in the church who have become more complex and diverse from the perspective of postcolonial women’s studies and through the voices of women in resistance.

Muslim Women’s Agency and South Asian Literature: A Postcolonial Feminist Analysis of Purdah and Polygamy: Life in an Indian Muslim Household by Iqbalunnisa Hussain

The study Muslim Women’s Agency and South Asian Literature aims at exploring the aspects of Muslim women’s oppression and seclusion in the life of zenana with reference to the selected work Purdah and Polygamy: Life in an Indian Muslim Household (1944) by Iqbalunnisa Hussain. Hussain is celebrated as the pioneer of Muslim Anglophone literature in South Asia. She is considered as the first female writer to stand against the oppressive practices like polygamy and seclusion of Indian Muslim women. Women authors and their literature have played a vital role in reflecting the oppressive states of women at the hands of insensitive conventional and patriarchal cultural values of colonial India. The selected novel is examined through Spivak’s perspective of voiceless subaltern. The study concludes that the patriarchal hegemony and subjugation are the factors, preventing Muslim women’s agency.

The Role of Women Characters in the Select Novels of Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie, a postmodernist immigrant, is considered as one the greatest novelist of the 20th century. His apt use of magical realism, incorporates mythology, religion, history, fantasy, and humor into the real world. He narrates his life story and relates it to the national history of India. Rushdie uses the magical realist technique to deal about the postcolonial people of India, and various postcolonial issues. His writing focuses on India’s history, politics, and identity as seen through his narrators. There is a blending of fantasy and reality with his fantastical fiction. Salman Rushdie presents women as strong characters to break free from their oppressive roles through his works. He develops strong female characters who face life with great fortitude and strength rather than meek personality. This research article critically investigates the role of women characters in selected novels by the acclaimed author, Salman Rushdie. A corpus of three major works—Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses, and Shame—has been selected for detailed analysis. The study aims to illuminate the varying dimensions of women’s representation, their influence, and the evolution of their roles in these narratives, serving as mirrors to the sociopolitical realities of their time. The article applies a combined theoretical framework of feminist literary criticism and postcolonial discourse to unpack the intricate characterizations and their wider implications. Findings reveal that Rushdie’s women characters are often depicted as multi-dimensional, complex individuals who actively influence the plot and resist conforming to traditional roles. They embody strength, resilience, and liberation in the face of cultural, political, and religious adversities, breaking the mold of passive feminine stereotypes. Despite being enmeshed within patriarchal societal structures, these characters often subvert normative constraints, highlighting the intersection of gender, power, and resistance in Rushdie’s novels. Through the use of magical realism, Rushdie juxtaposes reality with the fantastical, further challenging conventional expectations of women in literature. Rushdie’s depiction of women provides significant insights into the complexities of postcolonial feminist identities, societal norms, and cultural heritage. His novels, while being grounded in their specific contexts, resonate on a universal scale, enriching the discourse around the representation of women in literature.

The Study of Postcolonial Feminism: When Humans Are Displaced in the Novel Bumi Manusia Dan Anak Semua Bangsa by Promedya Ananta Toer

Research shows that women were victimized during the colonial period. This type of research is library research using qualitative descriptive methods with postcolonial feminism studies. The data from this research are in the form of words and sentences related to the displacement of women in the realm of colonialism. The results of the research show that women in the novel Bumi Manusia dan Anak Semua Bangsa by Promedya Ananta Toer, the study of Postcolonial Faminism, experienced oppression and resistance by women against Dutch colonialism, including marginalization, freedom and sexual harassment.

The Anti-Colonial Resistance Female Battler Amidst the Guerrilla War Environment in Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom The Bell Tolls

This research paper discusses the central figure of the anti-colonial resistence female battler around male- dominated strugglers and soldiers for the country freedom movement in Ernest Hemingway’s literary work entitled For Whom the Bell Tolls. The writer uses post-colonial feminism approach by analyzing the binary opposition to reveal the role difference between the superior men and the inferior woman amidst the guerrilla war environment. The result of this research shows that the anti-colonial resistence female battler, Pilar, has a major role and position to get involved in the battlefield against Fascist colonizers. Amidst the guerilla war environment, Pilar struggles hard to existentially show her position as a real female battler against men domination either her husband, American man, or Fascist soldiers in Spain. Pilar is able to live in mountains, caves, and other rocky places in facing fascist soldiers. Pilar is also able to play a significant role to take over the leadership of the anti- colonial band in blowing the bridge in the war. Pilar shows her cleverness in conceptualizing a war strategic planning in front of the male strugglers. Pilar is stereotyped as a courageous, rational, consistent, sensitive female battler with daily house work as a house wife amidst the guerilla war environment.

Decolonial Reproductive Justice: Analyzing Reproductive Oppression in India

Abstract: The reproductive justice framework shifted understandings and analyses of reproductive oppression beyond individual 'choice' by incorporating analyses of structural injustice, racism, and social and economic concerns. In this article, we build on understandings of the reproductive justice framework by integrating a postcolonial lens and bring the powerful conceptual tools of postcolonial feminist theory to bear on issues of reproductive oppression in India. We articulate the elements of such a postcolonial lens—the transnational operation of race, Orientalism, the subjective experience of colonialism as well as the role of the nation-state and nationalism in shaping reproductive lives—and demonstrate how these elements, along with religion, caste, and right-wing Hindu fundamentalism, structure reproductive oppression in India. Through our discussion of the issues of sterilization, sex-selective abortion, and commercial surrogacy in India we reveal how the underlying coloniality of Malthusian ideas of controlling population to reduce poverty, Orientalist and racist tropes of moral and intellectual inferiority and sexual licentiousness, and the Orientalist and colonial framing of the "East" as backward, uncivilized, and dependent clearly shape reproductive issues in India. Offering a nuanced analysis of the heterogeneity of reproductive oppression within India, our discussion brings reproductive justice into conversation with a feminist postcolonial perspective to foreground the continued impact of colonialism, neo-colonialism, and settler colonialism on reproductive oppression.

Kritik terhadap Wacana Patriarki dalam Novel La Civilisation, ma Mère !... Karya Driss Chraïbi

Moroccan francophone literature raises various criticisms, especially the issues of colonialism and gender. Driss Chraïbi is a Moroccan writer who investigated these issues in La Civilisation, ma Mère !.... This novel is told from the male perspective of a mother’s struggle in fighting gender discrimination in the French Protectorate, which later gives rise to a critique. This article aims to analyse how the critique of the patriarchal discourse is constructed in the novel. The method being used is qualitative and is supported by Roland Barthes’s narrative structure theory, A.J. Greimas’ actantial scheme theory, Gérard Genette’ focalization theory, and theory of postcolonial feminism by Gayatri Spivak. The result of this article is the critique on the patriarchal discourse is constructed through the postcolonial discourse that utilises the disposition of the “I” character as the indigenous man of the young generation, who encourages the deployment of Western culture to civilize women. Modern civilisation also becomes a hero for the Mother character, which is a subaltern, in her success in realising freedom and diminishing patriarchal discrimination. Nevertheless, her mindset and mental condition are still colonized due to her adjacency to the colonial legacy of the West.

Overcoming the Myth of the Silent Woman and Double-Colonization in Ernest Hemingway’s Indian Camp

This paper explores the theme of overcoming the myth of the silent woman and double colonization in Ernest Hemingway’s Indian Camp (1924). It scrutinizes the subversive demolishment of double-minority status lifting the curtain on the thunderous screams of a female character as an emblem of expressive agency. To thematize this research topic and critically diagnose its feasible dimensions, this research paper casts the spotlight of analytical interpretation on the political dynamics, the implicit underpinnings and the insinuated textual unsaid underlying the female character of the Indian woman as a case study placed under scrutiny. To excavate in depth the ideological ramifications and the political implications tacitly embedded in the overall textual fabric of this literary artifact, this current study brings into play the postcolonial feminist perspective as a deconstructive paradigm through decomposing and dismantling a miscellany of excerpted extracts quoted from the decomposed text. This research paper selects relevant thematic insights that embody the counter-patriarchal upheaval and the defiant insurgency unravelling the notion of the Voice as a third space of self-revival, restorative replenishment of the Indian female subaltern and decision-making power. This research paper culminates in a wide array of clear-cut conclusions: A. The strategic reversal of the gender-exclusive model of grand narrative shifts it from misogynistic patriarchy and the top-bottom androcentric monopoly of power to a gender-inclusive vision of democratic parity, political enfranchisement and performative agency. B. The transformational metamorphosis in the tectonic plates of male-female asymmetrical power structures and the replacement of the hierarchically structured pyramid of man-woman relation by a harmonious continuum of gender complementarity. C. The counter-active shift drifts from the reductionistic mindscape of phallocentric discrimination to the anti-patriarchal philosophy of gynocentric perspective.

Female Characters in Phaswane Mpe's Welcome to Our Hillbrow and Niq Mhlongo's Dog Eat Dog

This article examines two novels by Phaswane Mpe and Niq Mhlongo, Welcome to Our Hillbrow and Dog Eat Dog, by focusing on how they portray post-apartheid South African women and their experiences during and after the fall of apartheid. Set in the early years of South Africa’s democracy, these novels can be read from a feminist perspective, which offers an opportunity to investigate the condition of black South African women and their struggle in the context of the legacies of apartheid and the persisting male domination. The article employs postcolonial feminism as an approach and studies the two novels comparatively to see how the authors depict South African women in the face of double colonization and how they stand up to it. As the analysis indicates, Mpe and Mhlongo have voiced the plight of South African women through female characters that have continued to carry the burden of the legacy of apartheid and the persistence of patriarchy in the post-apartheid era. They have also demonstrated the resilience of women by featuring characters that reject exploitation and seize the opportunities offered by the newly-democratized nation.