Distortions, Collections, and Mobility: South Asian Poets and the Space for Female Subjectivity

As discussions about the hijab circulate in twenty-first century Western Europe, it seems as though few lawmakers are looking to the narratives and experiences of Muslim and South Asian women to give voice to the practice. This thesis looks at the poets Kamala Das, Imtiaz Dharker, and Moniza Alvi to try and locate how this unease with the South Asian female body in the U.K. is reflected in poetic language. In particular, these poets seem to complicate how the body is used as a focal point for discussions about female empowerment and agency. However, this focus on the female body is still silencing and restricting her voice and therefore her agency and political power. I explore questions of poetic form and British literary conventions in the work of these poets, especially in the wake of national displacement and diaspora. In studying the work of these poets, my objective is not to compartmentalize their narratives and experiences, but rather to illustrate how varied and contradictory some of these narratives can be.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Wilkey, Brittan

• British

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/57178

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/57178