Black Bodies White Culture: A Black Feminist [Re]Construction of Race and Gender in Morrison's Paradise
'This article intends to explore and expose through the analysis of Morrison's Paradise how the Afro American female writers [re]construct the potential of Afro American ecriture feminine to seek the true freedom and empowerment of black women by appealing them to 'write-through bodies'. To achieve this purpose, this article articulates its theoretical agenda, through the exploration of the work of the outstanding, widely acknowledged award-winning, English speaking Afro American female writer: Toni Morrison. Though it aims to highlight the significance and contribution of the Afro American female novelists towards broadening the frontiers of 'ecriture feminine', it does not aim to offer the generalized history of women writing in Afro American literature. It seeks to propose alternative ways of informed analysis, grounded in discourse and Feminist theories, to evaluate Toni Morrison's contribution to 'ecriture feminine'.
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Race, Gender, Culture, Black Feminism, Morrison.
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(1) Mumtaz Ahmad
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Government Guru Nanak Postgraduate College, Nankana Sahib, Punjab, Pakistan.
(2) Fatima Saleem
Lecturer, Debarment of English, National University of Modern Languages, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
(3) Ali Usman Saleem
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Government College University Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved
This article, evaluating the usefulness and applicability of the ecofeminist tenets upon the environmental fiction of Erdrich and Morrison, creates a new understanding of the preservation of the environment for engendering a more egalitarian relationship between humanity and nature. It presents the critique of the ways Toni Morrison and Louise Erdrich engage with the environmental themes and motifs using the historical connections of their communities with nature as a reference point via eco-performative texts. The overall scheme of the article, therefore, denies the anthropocentric approach upheld by the Euro-American world towards the environment and glorifies the biocentric approach revered and celebrated by the Native American and AfroAmerican lifestyle, emphasizing that in the cosmic scheme of nature, not just humans but non-humans, nature and environment are equal partners. The study concludes that Morrison and Erdrich have stressed in their fiction the ecocritical recognition of the inevitable interdependence of man and nature. Their fiction asserts that considering environmental issues to be human issues can positively affect the human attitude towards nature/environment.
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Afro-American, Ecofeminism, Eco-Performative Texts, Environment, Native American
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(1) Mumtaz Ahmad
PhD Scholar, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.
(2) Nighat Ahmad
Assistant Professor, Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.
(3) Amara Javed
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Government College Woman University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
Socio-Cultural Trauma and Gender Objectification in Haider's How It Happened: A Cultural Feminist Study
The research aims to pinpoint the socio-cultural suppressive crisis faced by the Pakistani women and tends to evaluate the standards through which Pakistani women are (mis)recognized through Shazaf Fatima Haider's How It Happened (2012). It focuses upon the internalized social norms regarding women's conduct to achieve perfection and a state of acceptability which have terrifyingly placed a question mark upon women's existence. Zeba, being the protagonist of How It Happened, undergoes anunnerving situation, being continuously displayed as an object for her marriage. Simone de Beauvoir's cultural feminist ideologies in her work, The Second Sex(1997), tend to deconstruct falsely existing cultural archetypes. She illustrates in her work the transformative stages of women's life beginning from the oppressive state towards the protesting state. Consequently, celebrating women's strength by acknowledging biological differences. Through the methodological application of a Textual analytical apparatus, this research tends to reverse the suppressive patriarchal patterns, bringing women from the periphery to the center, also providing a voice to silenced women entangled in the fabricated culture.
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Gender, Feminism, Pakistani Literature in English, Fiction
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(1) Nida Tabassum
Visiting Lecturer, Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, Faisalabad Campus, Punjab, Pakistan.
(2) Muhammad Owais Ifzal
Lecturer, Department of English, Government College University Faisalabad, Hafizabad Campus, Punjab, Pakistan.
(3) Ghulam Murtaza
Associate Professor, Department of English, Government College University Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
Lack of Justice in Contemporary Society as Depicted in Ghani Khan's Poem Badshahi
This study is conducted to discover elements of injustice in contemporary society through the poetry of the Pashtun incredible and legendary poet Ghani Khan. The poetry of Ghani Khan depicts the elements of revolt, injustices, cruelty, and exploitation in his contemporary society. The social injustices, the enslavement of poor and deprived ones have been pointed out in his poetry. This research work is all about social injustice in contemporary society and the violation of human rights. Ghani Khan pass on a solid message in his poem ‘Badshahi’ that Allah is seeing all the creatures that how they are carrying out their obligations. The study prescribed a broader vision of modern society that running after this world is just like chasing after a shadow, you may get nothing. Individuals these days are running after luxuries and worldly wishes. But at the conclusion of the day this control, cash, and extravagances will get to be a revile for them.
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Injustice, Society, Poems, Rights, Feminism, Discrimination
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(1) Nazish
Lecturer, Department of English, Women University, Mardan, KP, Pakistan.
(2) Sadaf Riaz
Graduate Scholar, Department of English, Women University, Mardan, KP, Pakistan.
(3) Haseena Safdar
Graduate Scholar, Department of English, Women University, Mardan, KP, Pakistan.
