Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Cultural Agency in Nadia Hashimi’s The Pearl That Broke Its Shell and A House Without Windows
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1607.19Keywords:
indigenous knowledge systems, oral traditions, cultural representation, Nadia HashimiAbstract
Afghanistan’s geographical location and chaotic history, marked by external and internal conflicts, have had an indelible impact on the personal as well as socio-cultural aspects of Afghan lives. Afghan literature in English offers global readers an insight into the cultural and historical factors that shape the country. Afghan writers incorporate various indigenous elements into their literary works, reflecting the country’s multiethnic tribal composition. The concept of indigeneity is often associated with colonial histories. However, this study attempts to redefine it within the tribal and cultural structures of Afghanistan. The research situates Afghan literature in English within the discourse of indigenous studies to explore how Nadia Hashimi’s novels The Pearl That Broke Its Shell (2014) and A House Without Windows (2016) preserve and disseminate indigenous knowledge systems of Afghanistan to global readers. Applying Stuart Hall’s cultural representation theory, the research studies how meanings are produced, contested, and preserved in the novels. The close reading and qualitative analysis of the texts reveal indigenous oral traditions of Afghanistan, such as storytelling, proverbs, poetry, magic, traditional healing methods, and cultural practices like bacha posh, becoming dynamic forces that shape the characters’ agency. This study moves beyond the oppression-focused victimization narratives that dominate existing scholarship to reveal how literary texts produce and disseminate Afghan cultural identity by integrating indigenous elements.
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