Can Afghan Woman Speak?: Resisting Western Stereotyping of Afghan Women and Repressive Gender Policies in Two Afghan Ethnoautobiographies by Zoya and Latifa

Abstract

Western media had stereotyped Afghan women as creatures who face discrimination and marginalization from men and fundamentalist societies. In Zoya's Zoya's Story (2002) and Latifa's My Forbidden Face (2001), the two female authors speak about the terrible conditions of women in so-called democratic Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban. Ethnoautobiographies of Afghan women, in general, demonstrate a new understanding of life under oppression and how they strive to maintain their autonomy in the face of repression and subjugation. The texts understudy show that Afghan women are neither submissive nor passive figures but had tried to retain their autonomy under the rule of the Taliban. This research is framed by administering an approach that combines Michel Foucault's theory of Power/ Knowledge and Stuart Hall's theory of Representation / Stereotyping and directing a critical analysis of two ethnoautobiographies of two Afghan women activists who challenge their passive stereotyped images set by Western societies to justify the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. This paper argues that Afghan women attempted to maintain their autonomy and fight for their rights before the rest of the world rushed to free them. Afghan women resisted suppression in several ways, but Zoya and Latifa participated in non-violent resistance against the Taliban regime.