AboutUs: http://www.the-criterion.com/about/ Archive: http://www.the-criterion.com/archive/ ContactUs: http://www.the-criterion.com/contact/ EditorialBoard: http://www.the-criterion.com/editorial-board/ Submission: http://www.the-criterion.com/submission/ FAQ: http://www.the-criterion.com/fa/ ISSN 2278-9529 Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research Journal www.galaxyimrj.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 11, Issue-IV, August 2020 ISSN: 0976-8165 Tracing the Antiquated Methodology of Oppression, the Gendered Endanger and Ethnic Enclaves in Nadia Murad’s The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and Fight against the Islamic State Minu. A Assistant Professor, Department of English, Kristu Jayanti College, Bangalore. Article History: Submitted-20/07/2020, Revised-17/08/2020, Accepted-19/08/2020, Published-31/08/2020. Abstract: The paper entitled “Tracing the Antiquated Methodology of Oppression, the Gendered Endanger and Ethnic Enclaves in Nadia Murad’s The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and Fight against the Islamic State” tries to explore the great divides- patriarchy, gender and ethnicity in human realm. Gender inequality is prevalent in Yazidi community. When Islamic State terrorists invaded their villages and towns, women faced double discrimination- discrimination based on their gender and ethnicity. Gender discrimination is founded upon the deep- rooted patriarchy in the society. The Yazidi community follows several patriarchal notions. These patriarchal notions are endorsed even more fiercely by the Islamic State terrorists who completely restrict and controls women. Iraq is home to many ethnicities which compete with each other to become the dominant religious and political majority in the country. The minority groups in Iraq face different kinds of violence from the majority groups. They are exterminated, they are forced to flee from their land, their land and property is seized and their women are kidnapped and turned into sex slaves. The paper underscores the patriarchal exploitation, the gendered discrimination of Yasidi women. It investigates the infringement of Yasidi community based on their ethnicity and advocates the need for diverse movements and practices for rejuvenating the life of Yasidi people. Keywords: Patriarchy, Gender, Ethnicity, Oppression, Feminism, Survival. In the heroic chronicles of civilizations, genocide, war, terrorist attack, communal riots and all kinds of atrocities created by man against man is portrayed as a blemish. Although history records the pain, misery, sufferings, agony and helplessness of humanity in the face of such disastrous events, it is the survivors who can unfold genuine reflections of their experience. Hence survival narratives are pertinent in the context. The survival narratives are powerful in terms of its potential to provide intellectual nourishment to the www.the-criterion.com 275 Tracing the Antiquated Methodology of Oppression, the Gendered Endanger and Ethnic Enclaves in Nadia Murad’s The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and Fight against the Islamic State present and future generations. The survivors are minority but they represent the ordeal of the majority victims who were denied of justice. Their voice echoes manifold adduces of cruelty, violence, inhumanness and cold heartedness which have been hidden by the perpetrators of violence. Women become one of the most vulnerable groups in such disastrous circumstances. Women are already forced to the rigid social roles set by patriarchy. Women are subjected to abduction, repeated rapes, imprisonment or even forced prostitution. There is no extent to the suffering of women as they can be rejected by their communities for destroying honour even though it wasn’t their fault. Crimes against women are widely used as weapons of war to destroy communities. Being a woman survivor definitely needs courage, determination, inner strength and an aspiration towards life. Nadia Murad, the Iraqi human rights activist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018depicts the harshness of the calamity fell upon her life in the guise of ISIS terrorists in her memoir, The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and Fight against the Islamic State. The present paper explores how the heinous divides namely patriarchy, gender and ethnicity impacted Nadia’s life and how she defeated the oddities. Patriarchy, the evil system of domination stems from the family, strengthened by the society and enforced upon the lives of women. The literal meaning of patriarchy is ‘the rule of father’. It is a social system rooted universally claiming the hegemonic position of men. The domination of women by men over time immemorial in all walks of life, thereby making women a subordinated, deprived and submissive half of the world’s population, deprived of her rights, entitlements, freedom and above all equality and equity, is briefly described as patriarchy. (Kaushik 1) In the novel, the Yazidi community follows several patriarchal notions. Men dominate over women in their families and women are deprived of their rights, entitlements and freedom. Nadia’s mother Shami was dominated by her father and her husband. She didn’t have the entitlement of birth control, property rights, her husband married another woman and she had to compete for husband’s attention, she had to raise her eleven children alone. The society, men and women imbibed patriarchal notions. No one in their community questioned Nadia’s father when he married another woman without the consent of Shami. In reality, patriarchy has asserted itself in all occasions and denied women the freedom to exercise her rights, her choices and the way she would like to set goals for her future. Women’s choices are controlled, limited, erased or sacrificed in the interests of www.the-criterion.com 276 The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 11, Issue-IV, August 2020 ISSN: 0976-8165 family, children, culture and nation. Education, communication, etc improved in Kocho over the years after the Americans invaded Iraq and Saddam was forced to leave his power and position. But the patriarchal notions did not end. Women still had to give birth to many children (Jilan’s wish of having a large family), look after all the needs of a huge family without getting any assistance from the male members (Nadia cooking for her brothers at her aunt’s house), didn’t have the rights to choose the religion they believed in and couldn’t marry anyone outside their community (Du’a’s honour killing). Women who violated tradition by converting into another religion or marrying a person from another religion were subjected to honour killings. Masculinity and femininity are abstract concepts based on gender, with the expectation that males will be masculine and females will be feminine. Examples of stereotypical masculine attributes include independence, aggression, strength and competitiveness. Stereotypical feminine attributes include nurturing, caring, passivity and subordination. (Brara 5) In the novel, there are several stereotypical depictions of both genders. Women are often described as nurturing, caring, passive and subordinate. Shami always made sure that her children were fed and hopeful. She often comforted her children when they were scared or miserable. “It’s okay, Nadia, she would tell me, stroking my hair after I had a nightmare or if I was upset over a fight with one of my siblings” (Murad 113). Nadia’s sister Dimal is described as mothering and quiet. Nadia broke down before a lady about her mother’s age in Erbil and the woman comforted her and told to hope for the future. Nadia’s father is described as a man who had a prominent voice in the village gathering. He was a person who fought against injustice and villagers close to him often told stories about his heroism. He was described as a man who always wanted to do what he considered right. “My father wasn’t a bully but fought if he had to” (Murad 28). He is associated with independence, strength, aggressiveness and competition. The men in her village trained as fighters and took pride in their bravery and wanted to prove themselves as fighters. Women in the village did household jobs and took care of children while men financially provided for the family and engaged in guarding the village. According to Susan Brownmiller, it is sexual violence, especially rape and rape threats, which make it possible for men to control women. In her view, rape stems, not from a momentary loss of individual control, but it is the act which links biological male-constructed www.the-criterion.com 277 Tracing the Antiquated Methodology of Oppression, the Gendered Endanger and Ethnic Enclaves in Nadia Murad’s The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and Fight against the Islamic State aggression and patriarchy. Once the basic truth that rape is a deliberate, hostile act of degradation and possession, designed to intimidate women and instil fear in them is accepted, the elements in the culture that promote these attitudes should be found out. Yazidi girls were considered infidels and according to the interpretation of Koran forged by the militants, raping a slave is not a sin. The girls were also used to attract new recruits and would also be passed around as a reward for loyalty and good behaviour. These motives reveal that rape was a deliberate, hostile weapon used by the terrorists to intimidate and instil fear among the women in Yazidi community. Hajji Salman, a terrorist who raped Nadia warned her, “Even if you make it home, your father or your uncle will kill you. You’re no longer a virgin, and you are a Muslim” (Murad 176). They used the greatest fear of girls to prevent their escape. Later, when Nadia tried to escape and was caught in the act, the guards gang-raped her as punishment. When she got the chance to escape again, the memory of the horrible gang-rape made her hesitate for some time until she mustered up courage to use her opportunity.