Abstract
The research paper uses Kamila Shamsie, a Pakistani diaspora Anglophone writer’s novel Kartography as a primary text to critique the influence of occidental gaze on the diaspora female writers of Pakistan and how they end up projecting the Pakistani women from their perspective of affluent, educated status mimicking the western feminist philosophy. The study uses textual analysis and closed reading methods within the post-colonial feminism and narrative theoretical framework. The discourse of the occidental gaze, representation/misrepresentation of the Orient, objectification of women, and Western feminism have been used to question the authenticity of narratives of these diaspora writers. The purpose of this research is to highlight that the feminist theory is not monolithic and that the diaspora writers lack the authenticity to define regional feminism in Asia. In other words, they cannot shed the influence of the Western feminist philosophy and the occidental gaze because they share the same experiences of living in Western society. Since they have spent most of their lives in the West, they have been conditioned in the occidental discourse and viewpoint about their native land. This project aims to highlight variations in the feminist stance and how Asia and Pakistan specifically need a different treatment to define feminism to encapsulate Pakistani unique idiom and experiences and that diaspora women writers have the least credibility to develop one.
Keywords: Occidental Gaze, diaspora, western feminist philosophy, narratology, victim and performance studies.
made by :
Nawal Al-Sheikh1 English Language Department Palestine Technical University Palestine | Sufia Humayun2 Department of English Literature and Language Govt. Gulberg College (W), Gulberg, Lahore. Pakistan |