Patriarchy and the figure of the father in the francophone Maghrebian novel from the nineteen fifties to the end of the twentieth century.
Item
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Title
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Patriarchy and the figure of the father in the francophone Maghrebian novel from the nineteen fifties to the end of the twentieth century.
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Identifier
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AAI3127846
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identifier
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3127846
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Creator
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Bahri, Hamid.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Francesca Canade Sautman
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Date
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2004
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Language, Modern | Literature, Middle Eastern
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Abstract
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This dissertation investigates patriarchy and the ideological role and narrative function of the father in the Maghrebian novel in French. Contrary to the predominant scholarship which has focused on the figure of the father as a site of patriarchal oppression and perennial force, I examine this pivotal figure in its complexities, limitations and evolution within the Maghrebian patriarchal system. Nevertheless, I give precedence to the father-daughter configuration in which the father is either benevolent or violent. I also highlight women's mode of resistance to patriarchal laws and their irrefutable role in the edification of patriarchy itself.;In most of the novels under study, we find dysfunctional contexts where the father's standing is contested and displaced by allegedly weaker persons, such as members of his own family or by outside agents, particularly the colonial forces. The latter have designed the power structure to humiliate him in an attempt to erase the glorious past that forms the backdrop of his nation's pride. The father emerges thus as undermined, displaced, muted, and bereft of his functions.;As a result, the daughters and sons shun the colonized father and embark upon a search for the primitive father. In their ambivalent stance, the sons and daughters undercut the father and the ancestors as they strive to sever ties with them and at the same time they recognize that the ancestors are their only point of reference and link to the past they deplore. Paradoxically, even by way of condemning the ancestors, they reaffirm their ties to them.;This dissertation shows that fatherhood does not acquire a fixed and immutable meaning since various individuals, notwithstanding their filial relation to the child, can claim the role of father. While filiation vanishes, the absent or non-existent father remains a central figure, even when others would still subsume his vacant role in his name. In fact, the father is the object of narration; he provides the thread of narration.;Further, the colonial wound serves as a catalyst to the emerging patriarchy in the Maghreb. There is a profound relation between patriarchy and the figure of the father. Today, there is a feverish attempt to re-constitute patriarchy as it used to be in the old days and re-establish the father as a center. In other words, the recent patriarchal consolidation of power in the Maghreb endeavors to reformulate itself and erects the traditional family as the prototype and the father as vector and leader.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
