Patriarchy and Gender Power Dynamics in ‘The Secret Sky’ by Atia Abawi: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

The research study examined depiction of the gender power dynamics and the role of patriarchy in the production, reproduction and maintenance of the gender based power asymmetries in the novel, ‘The Secret Sky’ by Abawi. The selected text was critically analyzed in terms of the theoretical postulates presented by Michelle Lazar in her theoretical framework of Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (2005, 2007).  Though the research study was delimited to the portrayal of the gender power dynamics in the selected novel through the lens of FCDA, yet it would serve to be a small academic contribution to the existing discourse of the gender power dynamics and also to the investigation of the image of Afghan woman in the Anglophonic Afghan novels. The research study would recommend the future researcher to explore the works of the female Anglophonic Afghan writers.