(En)gendering New Roles: War and Exile as Agents of Female Empowerment in Contemporary Iraqi Women’s Literature.
Minoff, Natalya.
2013
- Abstract: In my thesis, I will conduct a comparative analysis of the wartime and exilic narratives written by three contemporary female Iraqi authors. Through a close reading of Betool Khedairi’s two novels Absent (2004) and A Sky So Close (2001), Mikhail’s poetical memoir Diary of a Wave Outside the Sea (2009), and al-Radi’s autobiographical journal Baghdad Diaries (1998), I will assess the extent ... read moreto which the experiences of war and exile elicit a renegotiation of gender roles for the female protagonists in their works. For the Iraqi women who they portray in their texts, both the 1990-91 Gulf War and the subsequent period of exile bring about certain voids, which serve as windows of opportunity for them to subvert conventional gendered hierarchies and assert themselves through various modes of creative expression. In the absence of their husbands during the war, these female characters take on new roles and responsibilities within their households that empower them. Likewise, the departure from their native countries and traditions while living in exile allows them increased freedom of expression and mobility. Hence, both war and exile dismantle traditional relationships and power dynamics, enabling the female characters in these works to renegotiate their identities. Furthermore, through the very act of writing, Khedairi, Mikhail, and al-Radi exert their authority as Iraqi women during the Gulf War and in exile thereafter. The publication of their texts revolutionized Iraq’s literary tradition, transforming it to include the female narrative. Thus, these female authors exemplify the very societal reconstruction that they illustrate through the content of their works, using their writing to reconfigure the cultural fabric of Iraqi society.read less
- ID:
- b56453345
- Component ID:
- tufts:sd.0000110
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- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
