"Subaltern Portraits in Waiting for the Barbarians, Sea of Poppies and The Afghan Girl"

Year 2022, Issue: 1, 1 - 8, 21.02.2022

Nur Banu Karaman

Abstract

Oppression against the subaltern women has always been a significant issue. They have not only
struggled through many challenges caused by imperial powers but also suffered from the traditional, religious
and social norms imposed by their own patriarchy. Although it is considered that the West is the only saviour for
the East, it has never become true as it has been nothing but devastation, poverty, identity struggle and a
challenging life in refugee camps. In order to avoid misinterpretation of the subaltern women, it is now up to
intellectuals, writers and journalists to make their voices heard and reveal all the facts about them. In this sense,
Coetzee and Ghosh draw a perfect picture and become the voice of the subaltern women under the domination of
their own patriarchy and imperial powers all around the world. They, in a way, tell the story of millions of
subaltern women like Sharbat Gula, who was objectified both by her patriarchal society and by the West to
justify its violent acts upon the East. Intertwined between colonists and patriarchy the subaltern is always
subaltern and it is almost impossible for them to express themselves as they do not have autonomy and are not
independent from dominant foreign groups. Thus, the aim of this study is to discuss how the subalternity is
pictured through the female portraits in the novel Waiting For The Barbarians by John Maxwell Coetzee and
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh along with the real life story of the Afghan Girl, Sharbat Gula, who was
photographed by Steve McCurry.

Keywords

Postcolonialism, Subaltern, Spivak, Waiting For the Barbarians, Sea of Poppies, The Afghan Girl, Orientalism, Guha

References

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