Questioning Gender-Slavery Oppression in Jokha Alharthi’s Celestial Bodies

Authors

  • Varnika PhD Research Scholar, Dept. of English, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharmashala

Keywords:

Gender, Culture, Challenges, Slavery, Conflict, Identity and Sex

Abstract

Gender inequality has always been a crucial part of the grand narrative of culture in Arabia. Women in Arabian society are subjected to gender bias. Analyzing the novel Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, the winner of the International Booker Prize in 2019, the paper will vividly visualize various atrocities that are exercised by men against women in the name of culture and traditions. It will bring to focus how culture is twisted and manipulated by men to exercise their control over women. It will further expose how hiding under the cloak of worn-out misogynist cultural dictates, men oppress women. The paper will explore the different challenges that are faced by slave women in Oman through the characters like Zarifa, Hafiza, Ankabuta, and Masouda. Alharthi portrays various ugly moments in the lives of Omani women wherein they are commodified and sexually abused. It will expose how women are ill-treated as slaves and used by men for their sexual gratification to such an extent that the young slave women remain confused about the paternal identity of their children. The paper will employ slave narratives and gender theoretical postulations to contest slavery as an inhumane practice against men in general and women in particular.

Author Biography

Varnika, PhD Research Scholar, Dept. of English, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharmashala

Varnika is doing her PhD on Contemporary African Women Writers at the Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala. She has presented a couple of papers at International Conferences and has attended various National and International conferences. She has also written a chapter titled “Education as Empowerment: Exposing the Real Infertility in Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives” in the book titled Gendered Spaced and Ruptured Identities: Representation of Women in African Literature.

References

Alharthi, Jokha. Celestial Bodies. Simon and Schuster, 2019.

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Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper Collins, 1965.

Jankowiak, William, M. Diane Nell, and Anne Buckmaster. “Managing Infedility: Cross Cultural Perspective.” Ethnology, vol.41, no.1, 1995, pp. 85-101.

Mgomba, Fatuma A. “Rape is Rape: The Need to Criminalize Marital Rape in Tanzania.” East African Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, vol.2, no. 1, 2020. pp. 113-123.

Mohammed, Shamsudeen and Larsen-Reindorf RE. “Menstrual knowledge, sociocultural restrictions, and barriers to menstrual hygiene management in Ghana: Evidence from a multi-method survey among adolescent schoolgirls and schoolboys”(2020). PLoS ONE 15(10): e0241106. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241106

Robertson, Claire. “We Must Overcome: Genealogy and Evolution of Female Slavery in West Africa”. Journal of West African History, vol.2, no.1, pp.59-92.

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Published

01.10.2022

How to Cite

Varnika. (2022). Questioning Gender-Slavery Oppression in Jokha Alharthi’s Celestial Bodies. Journal of Teaching and Research in English Literature, 13(4), 28–33. Retrieved from https://journals.eltai.in/index.php/jtrel/article/view/JTREL130406

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 4 (2022): October

Section

Research Articles

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