International Journal of Women's Research
Volume:3 Issue: 1, Winter & Spring 2014

Issues on differences between men and women have always been a source for dispute and different approaches in the available literature on women. Some have seen these differences resulting from the dissimilar socialization of men and women in family and society. While some put more emphasis on the physiological differences and rely on theological interpretations, some others consider them as essential differences caused by gender distinctions; the latter thinkers interpret the lawmaking system based on the essential differences between men and women. But those who believe in socialization of differences will not stand any discrimination in lawmaking. Those who believe in essential differences between men and women might be more successful if the differences are confirmed in the system of Islamic philosophy and in the realm of human soul. As a Muslim philosopher, Mulla Sadra (known as “the foremost amongst the theosophists“) believes in the substantial motion of the soul toward immateriality. The result of the substantial motion is corporeal origination of the body (haduth) and the spiritual permanence of the soul. This idea, which is peculiar to Mulla Sadra, makes the scene to talk about the gender of the soul. Within the philosophical system of Mulla Sadra’s thoughts and with regards to the principles of corporeal origination and spiritual permanence of the soul, one can start to discuss the gender of the soul, despite the disagreements among the thinkers.

During the era of Bush administration and post-September 11th anti-terrorism discourse, the movie 300 was one of the best exemplar of a close relationship between Hollywood pop culture products and the neo-conservatives’ political discourse of nationalism. From my point of view, 300 is not an example of outstanding artistic films, but a film that more than any other film contains an Iranophobic discourse, produced by Hollywood. The film is another example for ‘warfare-ization’ of public sphere and envisioning war as part of the people’s everyday life using pop culture products in U.S. after 9/11. Connecting war with collective memory, 300 brings war to the heart of everyday life. The Western or American youths should think that just like the brave and devoted Spartan soldiers in 300, they also fight for democracy, freedom, and glory. This film is full of cultural stereotypes on the Eastern and Iranian culture, in particular, their identity. For example, women are depicted as erotic objects. In contrast to the Spartan women who are free, brave, kind mothers and faithful wives, the Iranian women are represented as slavish, lustful, indecent, and homosexual. They look like the sexy dancers in nightclubs and discothèques. Using van Leeuwen’s approach in critical discourse analysis (2008), this paper is aimed at analyzing this film as a media text.

Patriarchy, it seems today, has always been an integral part of the Indian society. A slight glance at the status of women in India today makes one think that women have always been considered inferior to men. History, however, says otherwise; women in India have historically had a greater role to play and have commanded far greater respect than they do today. It will therefore be justified to say that women are not gaining but rather re-gaining prominence in the Indian society, considering the fact that the idea of women having a prominent role to play in the society is not new to this vast country. The role of women in India has in fact been a ‘loss and gain’ business, with their influence fluctuating from time to time. This paper attempts to examine the contribution of women in the field of literature under the Islamic rule in India. During the Sultanate as well as the Mughal period, although the status of women was comparatively lower than their male counterparts, this period saw some significant literary contributions from women. This paper first analyses the status of women during the Islamic rule in India, and then outlines their significant literary contributions.

“Wild thorns” is a novel written by the Palestinian novelist Sahar Khalifeh; it focuses on the colonisation of Palestine from a feminist point of view. She considers the Israeli colonisation as a patriarchy. This paper aims at investigating two types of colonization that have been represented in the form of patriarchy in the novel. The investigation of the issue of Palestine from a feminist point of view and the relation between the tribal traditions and colonisation is among the notable aspects of the novel. The present paper has been conducted based on Jungian criticism, which views literature as a repository of “archetypes”. For this reason, the paper aims at decoding the archetype of patriarchy and patricide suggested by Freud in his book Totem and Taboo. According to this theory, the early humans lived in hordes in which the father spread his dominance over the children and women. In order to exercise his dominance, he castrated or exiled the children. Finally, the children united and killed their father. It was the beginning of changes in early human’s life. Patricide is represented in two layers of Wild Thorns. The first is seen at the level of Palestine-Israel relations in which Israel is like the father who tries to prevent Palestinians from farming on their soils (mother), and also castrates their children and banishes them to dominate over the land (mother). The second layer is seen in the patriarchy of the father in a Palestinian family and reunion of the children against him that leads to his death in a hospital.

Morrison’s Song of Solomon could be viewed as a paragon of trauma fiction. Since no narrative of trauma can be told in a linear way, Morrison tries to depict the overwhelming power of trauma through a non-linear narrative, episodic delivery, and flashbacks. Accordingly, the readers are compelled to concoct the disjointed and fragmented memories in order to solve the riddle of the text, in which past, present, and future are intermingled. Morrison’s Song of Solomon is bound up with psychoanalytic formulation. The figuration of trauma in the ghost extremely resembles Freud’s assertion about the return of the repressed traumatic past. Morrison’s narrative clearly depicts the belated experience of trauma through resurrecting the ghosts of slavery. The analytical-qualitative scrutiny of Morrison’s Song of Solomon not only corroborates the characters’ traumatic experiences but also demonstrates the techniques Morrison employs in order to implicitly depict the trauma of slavery and its after-effects in its hypotext.

The concept of identity and its formation is one of the most basic notions in the field of social psychology. Many psychologist and sociologists have presented their theories based on this concept and the psychosocial progress of its formation in social contexts. Henry Tajfel, a prominent social psychologist, in his Social Identity Theory has divided an individual’s identity into two parts: “personal identity” and “social identity”. He believes that social interactions and bonds affect identity and accentuate our membership in different groups, playing a role in shaping and reshaping our personality. Toni Morrison’s novel titled Sula (1973) is among the books depicting the process of identity formation in suppressive social contexts in a white dominated society. The novel traces the life and death of a young girl in a racist and sexist community and depicts the process of her individuation and the forms of her personal and social identity construction under the influence of her life events and experiences as an African American female. The present paper attempts to probe into the identity formation of Sula, the protagonist who bears the title of the novel and lives in a repressive social and cultural context.

Girls in India face discrimination from cradle to grave in different forms and in different arenas of life. However, it is long survival of women compare to men (due to menopause older women free from risk of bearing children in later life and live longer (Cromie, 1998), which makes them 48% of population (Census, 2011). At every step, she is in patriarchal shackles with no opportunity to escape and fly. In society, she is equated as a commodity or a chattel and she has no freedom to make choices or express her opinion. It is because of deep rooted biases and internalization of patriarchal value. There are many underlying facts contributing the torment life of girls including female foeticide, child abuse, malnourishment, child mortality, dowry, malpractices in families etc. The present paper analyse the various discriminatory practices prevalent in India against girl child. The paper also emphasises that the innocence and sanctity of childhood must be protected and nurtured to flourish the bright future of girls in India.