Reading Two Middle Eastern Women Writers As Nonviolent Peace Activism Charlyn Marie Ingwerson University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
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University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 5-2019 Maternal Criticism: Reading Two Middle Eastern Women Writers as Nonviolent Peace Activism Charlyn Marie Ingwerson University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Ingwerson, Charlyn Marie, "Maternal Criticism: Reading Two Middle Eastern Women Writers as Nonviolent Peace Activism" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 3155. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3155 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Maternal Criticism: Reading Two Middle Eastern Women Writers as Nonviolent Peace Activism A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies by Charlyn Marie Ingwerson Missouri State University Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, 2000 Missouri State University Master of Arts in English, 2002 Assemblies of God Theological Seminary Master of Arts in Theological Studies, 2007 May 2019 University of Arkansas This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. ____________________________ Jennifer Hoyer, Ph.D. Dissertation Director _____________________________ ____________________________ Stephanie Schulte, PhD. Mohja Kahf, PhD. Committee Member Committee Member ABSTRACT This dissertation advocates for reading the literatures of two Middle Eastern women writers through a Maternal Critical lens that recognizes the demands of universal vulnerability in characters who resist violence, and responds in Maternal communities of Readers that connect readers to characters, readers to writers, and readers to other readers, carrying the struggle for equity forward. My unfolding argument, centered on Maternal Critical activity in the novels of Palestinian writer Sahar Khalifeh and Israeli writer Ronit Matalon, demonstrates how literature by these Middle Eastern women is part of a narrative context of women’s peacemaking and resistance to violence, a part that has been largely overlooked until now. I argue these literatures are nonviolent resistance and that reading these works through a Maternal Critical lens constitutes a participatory response in the demands for equity from which the literatures emerge. Maternal Criticism draws on philosopher Sara Ruddick’s work, Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace for its primary vocabulary that frames the work of mothering as responding to the demands of vulnerability for preservation, nurture, and social acceptance. This dissertation, Maternal Criticism, contributes to existing literary and critical readings of literature by Khalifeh and Matalon, and is the first writing to consider them in juxtaposition. The analysis advanced from these Maternal Critical readings of texts recognizes mothering practices that underpin mothers’ nonviolent resistance, activism that has shifted both practices of mothering and perceptions of mother-work in the societies from which the texts have emerged, suggesting a premise upon which to construct inclusive discourses that build peaceful communities. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 I: Maternal Criticism 4 Stanley Fish and Patrocinio Schweickart: Reader-response and Feminist criticism 5 This is Maternal Criticism 8 Why ‘Maternal’ Criticism? 15 II: A Literature Review 21 Maternal Discourses 21 Sara Ruddick, Maternal Thinking 21 Critiques of Ruddick in the context of Maternal Criticism 28 Julie Stephens, Confronting Postmaternal Thinking 36 A Philosophy of Literature and Criticism 38 Martha Nussbaum: Vulnerability in Literature 38 Iris Murdoch and Gayatri Spivak: Love and the Secret Encounter 42 III: Narrative Framework of Women’s Non-violent Peace Activism 48 Women’s peacemaking is narrative-based discourse 48 Narrative discourses: Invitational Rhetoric 52 The gendered experience of violence in texts 55 Receiving the story of women’s non-violent resistance 58 From the maternal private to the maternal public 60 IV: Models of Maternal Critical Activity in novels by Middle Eastern Women 64 Palestinian writer, Sahar Khalifeh 67 Wild Thorns 70 The Inheritance 79 The End of Spring 90 Israeli writer, Ronit Matalon 101 The One Facing Us 109 Bliss 120 The Sound of Our Steps 132 V: Peace Activism and the Perception of Mother-work in Popular Culture 141 Four Mothers 142 Palestinian women’s organizations and the Intifada 147 Conclusion 150 Works Cited 155 1 Introduction An exchange on Facebook between former students caught my attention; here’s an excerpt: JF (male): “I find this issue impossible to tackle from a legislative standpoint . Mass shootings are a cultural problem that I think stems from the extreme patriarchy . [in] the US.” CJW (female): “here’s my proposal: a complete cultural transition to a matriarchy where people of all genders are free to exist without being harassed, express emotion in a healthy way, and live in a far more safe society.” [. ] JF (male): “It seems to me . the way ahead is probably going to be a seismic cultural shift for a society that is fractured by fragile masculinity and patriarchal norms.” (20 May 2018) This conversation reflects the tone of others in my classes recently; young people know the violence they’re witnessing points to deeply embedded systems of exclusion. My students and I are not the first to suggest we live in political cultures that do not meet our basic needs. This dissertation enters these conversations to suggest an alternative way of reading and acting in the communities in which we live. I suggest we adopt a Maternal Critical lens, a lens through which we can see how violence results from exclusion, and how exclusion defines the system referred to as ‘patriarchy.’ Patriarchy means authoritarian systems that depend upon exclusion in order to construct vertical hierarchies. 1 Both women and men may subscribe to patriarchal systems. Patriarchy constructs fear-based systems, and what it fears is vulnerability, falsely conflating victimization with vulnerability—a fallacy that has important implications: philosopher Martha Nussbaum identifies the recognition of universal human vulnerability as the connective strand between a person and his or her world; and, a recognition of one’s own vulnerability as 1 Many students express discomfort with the term ‘patriarchy,’ and indeed, the term ‘authoritarianism’ might be substituted; still, we must confront the fact that, throughout history, most political authoritarians have been men. These students have also spoken frankly about their discomfort with the term ‘feminist ,’ asserting it is not relevant to them. I have suggested the term ‘equalist’ might be substituted, though here, too, integrity requires confronting the fact that in all cultural contexts, most women have struggled for basic equality. 2 necessary for seeing others as they really exist. Authoritarian power obscures the reality of universal vulnerability by substituting a narrative of victims and perpetrators, a narrative that underwrites a demand for a ‘strong-man.’ By Nussbaum’s reckoning, a system that denies or rejects vulnerability denies the world in which we live, a world of flesh-and-blood people. We need a framework for creating communities that both recognize universal vulnerability and respond to the struggle of vulnerability, demands for preservation, nurture, and social acceptance. I, too, advocate for ‘a seismic cultural shift’—a shift toward maternal communities; and, since critical activity in literature has always been vital to effecting revolutionary shifts in cultural perspective, such a movement must be accompanied by literature and criticism. In this dissertation, I advocate for Maternal Criticism, critical activity in literature through which readers recognize the fallacy of systems that associate vulnerability with shame and valorize a wish for power. A Maternal Critical approach reveals maternal characters who recognize vulnerability and respond: preserving, nurturing, and respecting conscience—terms articulated by philosopher Sara Ruddick to denote practices of maternal authority that resist violence. Maternal Criticism offers readers a framework for practicing responses that preserve the ‘connective strand’ between vulnerable readers and characters and the communities from which both have emerged, inclusion that resists violence and premises peacemaking. In the first section of this dissertation, I discuss the significance the term, ‘maternal,’ though here, I want to suggest a repulsion to the term derives, in no small part, from the way patriarchy has twisted the image of maternal authority—stripping the term of its authority and discounting the thinking that derives from its practices. Why would patriarchal systems do this? Because authoritarianism , the assumption/perpetuation of power by force, is opposed to authority , which is earned through its attention to vulnerability. A further contrast will be 3 helpful: authoritarianism seeks to control others, denying others their own agency, while also denying personal responsibility for others. Authority accepts personal responsibility for oneself and for others in community, acknowledging and