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The Politics of Voice in the Stereotypical Representation of the Pashtun: A Critical Study of Khaled Hosseini’s Novels

Author

Listed:
  • Rab Nawaz Khan

    (Assistant Professor, Department of English, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Mardan, KP, Pakistan)

  • Abdul Waheed Qureshi

    (Assistant Professor, Department of English, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Mardan, KP, Pakistan)

Abstract

The current study is an attempt to critically analyze the role and politics of voice in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns in terms of categorical and stereotypical representation of the Pashtuns. It is a critical discourse study (Norman Fairclough, 1989, 2018) of the selected data. Moreover, the data is viewed from the perspective of critical discourse studies. The novels under study are polyphonic in nature, and the characters belong to various Afghan ethnic backgrounds, like the Pashtuns, the Tajiks and the Hazaras. The study concludes that the novelist's choice of the characters with their respective voices and the roles assigned to them are political, ideological and somewhat biased. The Pashtuns have been stereotypically represented by categorizing them as the social, well-educated and more or less liberal Pashtuns, the tribal and traditionalist Pashtuns, extremist and fundamentalist Pashtuns, like Taliban. Misrepresentation of the tribal and fundamentalist Pashtuns as racists, ethnic nationalists, ideologists, sexists, exclusionists, traditionalists and power-abusers is indicative of the novelist's biasedness and exaggeration.

Suggested Citation

  • Rab Nawaz Khan & Abdul Waheed Qureshi, 2018. "The Politics of Voice in the Stereotypical Representation of the Pashtun: A Critical Study of Khaled Hosseini’s Novels," Global Social Sciences Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(2), pages 387-403, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gss:journl:v:3:y:2018:i:2:p:387-403
    DOI: 10.31703/gssr.2018(III-II).22
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Hazara Representation in Popular Culture
      by Anya Magotra in India at LSE on 2021-02-08 07:47:37

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    Cited by:

    1. Mohammed Ilyas, 2021. "Critical Discourse Analysis of Diaspora Writings: A New Paradigm," International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(2), pages 105-121, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    The Politics of Voice; Discource; Representation; Categorization; Stereotyping; Critical Stylists;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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