CULTURAL OPPRESSION AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN MY FEUDAL LORD: A CULTURAL FEMINIST ANALYSIS

This study explores the deep rooted problem of domestic violence through cultural feminism’s perspective in the autobiographical novel, My Feudal Lord, by Tehmina Durrani. Cultural feminism focuses on the importance of traditions, values, and social rules in the formation of the gender identities and powers. This novel is an excellent portrayal of emotional, physical, and psychological abuse, which mirrors the cultural and patriarchal structures that accommodate domestic violence in South Asian cultures, particularly in Pakistan. The prevalence of this abuse can be attributed to our deep-rooted cultural values and the persecution of women’s voices, which are upheld by their family and societal pressures. The proposed study will contribute to the feminist literature because it will provide a critique that highlights these silences, and create dissonance in the social structures that facilitate oppression; thus breaking it. The study shows the necessity of critical awareness and a cultural change through the process of uncovering the cultural expectations, which silences female resistance and voice. By using a textual analysis and theoretical basis, it strives to add to the discourse surrounding gender, power, and violence in Pakistani literature to integrate feminist advocacy in the world at large.