RECONSTRUCTING PATRIARCHAL DOMINATIONS AND GENDER ROLES IN DEBORAH ELLIS AND RUKHSANA KHAN WORKS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30872/calls.v1i2.688Abstract
This study analyzes the issues of traditional patriarchy and the reconstruction of gender roles of three books; The Breadwinner (Deborah Ellis), Parvana’s Journey (Deborah Ellis), and Wanting Mor (Rukhsana Khan). All these three books are considered as multicultural literature because of the theme of war and violence in Afghanistan culture. The findings confirm gender roles are unstable and inconstant. These three books show evidences of how gender roles are adaptable and changeable depends on what gender is favored in the social interactions. What is more, the institutional perspectives provide ways of reasoning gender roles are altered and changed. By observing Afghan social practices and policies in their culture, these books also confirm that most social institutions in this culture are gendered to favor patriarchy dominations. Therefore, the main characters of these books portray the shifts and changes of their gender roles to save them from ‘disparate treatment’ in the society.
Key word: patriarchal dominations, gender roles, Afghanistan culture
References
Botelho, Maria Jose and Masha Kabakow Rudman. Critical Multicultural Analysis of Children's Literature: Mirrors, Windows and Doors. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Cai, Mingshui. Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults: Reflections on Critical Issues. USA, 2002.
Clapp-Itnyre, Alisa. "Battle on the Gender Homefront: Depictions of the American Civil War in Contemporary Young Adult Literature." Children's Literature in Education 38 (2007): 153-161.
Ellis, Deborah. Parvana's Journey. Toronto, Ontario: Groundwood Books, 2002.
—. The Breadwinner. Toronto, Ontario: Groundwood Books, 2002.
Jordan, Sarah D. "Educating Without Overwhelming: Authorial Strategies in Children's Holocaust Literature." Children's Literature in Education 35.3 (2004): 199-218.
Khan, Rukhsana. Wanting Mor. Toronto, Ontario: Groundwood Books, 2009.
Lampert, Jo. Tugging on Superman's Cape: Heroic Identities in Children's Literature Post 9/11. 2004. 2010 <http://eprints.qut.edu.au>.
Ortiz-Robles, Mario. "Local Speech, Global Acts: Performative Violence and the Novelization of the World." Comparative Literature (Winter 2007): 1.
Rahimi, Wali M. Status of Women: Afghanistan. RUSHSAP Series of Monographs and Occasional Paper. Bangkok: UNESCO Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific , 1991.
Stewart, Susan Louise. "Beyond Borders: Reading ‘‘Other’’ Places in Children’s Literature." Children's Literature in Education (2008): 95-105.
Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. NewYork: Routledge, 2006.
Wharton, Amy S. The Sociology of Gender: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Every works in CaLLs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
