The Conundrum of being a Bacha Posh: An Analysis of Nadia Hashimi’s One Half from the East and The Pearl that Broke Its Shell

Afghanistan has witnessed decades of war, turmoil, invasions, and political upheavals. Umpteen years of violence and socio-political unrest have immensely contributed to the subjugation and oppression of Afghan women in the name of religion, war, and fundamentalism. The patriarchal society and its disregard for women’s liberation and emancipation has adversely affected the position of women in the country. This paper attempts to discuss the existence and identity of a ‘Bacha Posh’, through a reading of Nadia Hashimi’s fictional works One Half from the East and The Pearl that Broke Its Shell. Prevalent in many tribal societies of Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan, the custom of dressing a girl as a boy (Bacha Posh is a Dari word which literally means “dressed as a boy”) is evidence of the androcentric mentality of privileging of boys over girls and the control exercised over women’s bodies, both publicly and privately. The paper will analyse aspects of gender dysphoria, performativity, and the dynamic power structure as experienced by the “boy-girl” and will also study the developing disgust towards effeminacy, femininity and the transition from boyhood to womanhood of a bacha posh.