This thesis discusses female silence, voice and representation as portrayed in four postcolonial novels written by Asian female writers or those from the Asian diaspora. The novels included in the corpus are The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo, Brick Lane by Monica Ali and Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne. This thesis aims to explore the different strategies adopted by the authors to represent different forms of silence of the type highlighted in theoretical work by Spivak, Olsen and Showalter. The novels analysed open up new contexts in which issues of silence, migration, displacement and multiculturalism, which are central in postcolonial literature, are explored. In its examination of these issues in detail, the thesis has been influenced by postcolonial and diasporic studies, with a focus on women’s issues and feminist thought. Instead of focusing on the role of silence solely in relation to specific characters, the thesis attempts to engage with the complex ways in which these narratives represent various forms, moments and scenes of silence. From the analysis, we can exemplify that the novels can also be used to suggest the ambivalences of speaking/not-speaking via the narrative representations of silence. Authorial silence involves the author’s deliberate refusal to speak directly in the text ; instead, the author utilises several literary devices to convey something indirectly to the reader. Silence is also linked to concepts such as shame, secrets and gossip. One is likely to refrain from speaking if he or she is ashamed, secretive or is the topic of gossip in one’s community. There are also some female characters who are portrayed as not-speaking, or choosing to remain silent so as not to cause problems for the family. A few other characters have been portrayed as refusing to speak out as they have been traumatised into silence. Lastly, women can also be complicit in holding on to patriarchal structures and in the process, attempt to speak out in order to to silence or to cause problems to other women.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines the fictional representation of gender relations in novels set during five historical periods in Tanzania – the pre-colonial, colonial, nationalism, Ujamaa, and the current neoliberalism period – each of which is marked by important shifts in the nation’s economic contours. Analysing novels written in both Swahili and English, it tracks the shifts in fictionalized household and extra-household gender relations; analyses how the community and the state (colonial and post-colonial) variously map and remap the way male and female characters relate; and interrogates how male and female characters variously accommodate, appropriate, bargain with and/or resist the shifts. The study employs the concepts of power and intersectionality to analyse how selected authors depict gender relations as a product of intersecting identity categories, complex socio-economic shifts and historical processes. Defining labour as productive work done for wage and fulfilment of gender roles, the study argues that labour is one of the major aspects shaping power relations between men and women. It reveals that labour is the major aspect in which the economic shifts have had great impact on gender relations as represented in Tanzanian fiction. As an aspect of power, labour is also the area within which gender relations have continuously been negotiated and contested throughout the fictionalized history. In negotiating or resisting given economic shifts, both male and female characters variously deconstruct and or endorse existing notions of power, labour, and gender relations. The study shows that the cross-fertilization among the periods, the interaction between gender and other identity categories (such as race, religion, class, and age), the synergy between indigenous patriarchy and other patriarchies (such as colonial and capitalist), and, the interactions between global and local dynamics account for the complex and contradictory nature of the shifts in gender relations throughout the nation’s history. Consequently, the study’s major observation is that across the fictionalized history, characters variously seek to maintain and or transform existing gender relations and or discard or restore past gender relations. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Dié studie ondersoek die fiksionele verteenwoordiging van geslagsverhoudings in romans wat gestel word gedurende vyf historiese periodes in Tanzanië – pre-koloniale, koloniale, nasionalisties, Ujamaa en die huidige neoliberalisme – elkeen waarvan gekenmerk is deur belangrike verskuiwings in die nasie se ekonomiese kontoere. Deur die analisering van romans wat in Engels en Swahili geskryf is volg dit die verskuiwings in fiktiewe huishouding- en ekstrahuishoudelike geslagsverhoudings; dit analiseer hoe die gemeenskap en die staat (koloniale en post-koloniale) die manier van hoe manlike en vroulike karakters verband hou verskillend en afwisselend kaart en herkaart; dit interrogeer hoe manlike en vroulike karakters verskillend die verskuiwings akkommodeer, bewillig en weerstaan. Die studie maak gebruik van die konsepte van krag en intersektionaliteit om te analiseer hoe die geselekteerde skrywers geslagsverhoudings verteenwoordig as ʼn produk van kruisende identiteitskategorieë, komplekse sosio-ekonomiese verskuiwings en historiese prosesse. Arbeid word as produktiewe werk wat gedoen word vir loon en geslagsrolle definieer, en die studie argumenteer dat arbeid een van die hoof aspekte is wat magsverhoudings bepaal tussen mans en vrouens. Dit onthul dat arbeid die hoof aspek is in die ekonomiese verskuiwings wat ʼn groot impak gehad het in geslagsverhoudings in Tanzaniese fiksie. As ʼn aspek van mag is dit ook die area waarin geslagsverhouding aanmekaar onderhandel en betwis word dwarsdeur die fiktiewe geskiedenis. Wanneer dit kom by die onderhandel en twis van ekonomiese verskuiwings is dit beide manlike en vroulike karakters wat afwisselend bestaande idees van mag, arbeid en geslagsverhoudings dekonstrueer en endosseer. Die studie bewys dat kruisbestuiwing tussen die periodes, die interaksies tussen geslag en ander identiteitskategorieë (soos ras, geloof, klas en ouderdom), die sinergie tussen patriargie en ander patriargies (soos koloniale en kapitalistiese) en die interaksies tussen globale en plaaslike dinamika verantwoordelik is vir die komplekse en teenstrydige natuur van die wisselinge in geslagsverhoudings regdeur die nasie se geskiedenis. Gevolglik is die studie se hoofobservasie dat die karakters regdeur die geskiedenis op verskeie maniere poog om bestaande geslagsverhoudings te behou of te transformeer of om vorige geslagsverhoudings te herstel of verwyder.

Thesis (PhD)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study explores fictional representations of poverty in selected novels of Meja Mwangi and Roddy Doyle, respectively Kenyan and Irish – examining techniques of literary representation and how the two authors make imaginative use of various stylistic techniques and verbal skills in a selection of their texts to achieve compelling representations of poverty. The study recognizes that poverty is one of the most recurrent subjects of discussion in the world, that it is a complex and multifaceted concept and condition and that it affects societal, political and economic dimensions of life. The study considers the (broad) United Nations definition of poverty as: “… a human condition characterised by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights” (United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, 2002). Rather than suggest that fiction replaces other approaches in the study of poverty, the study calls for a complementary “conversation” between fiction and the social sciences in depictions of the condition of poverty. However, the study notes the advantage that fiction has in its nuanced exploration of the subject of poverty. In fact, fiction reflects social reality in interestingly subversive but also empowering ways – showing a unique way of dealing with difficult situations. Fiction is equipped with the subtle instruments and complex power of literary devices to articulate multiple layers of possible meanings and human experiences and conditions vividly and movingly – in ways that are accessible to a variety of readers. While giving a voice to the voiceless – the poor – narrative fiction opens inner feelings and thoughts of the depicted poor and enables the reader to probe deeply into the inner feelings of characters depicted; allowing the reader to develop a deeper understanding of the condition of poverty, but also allowing the reader to bring his or her interpretation to bear on what is represented. The five main chapters of the thesis are thematically arranged, but the analysis draws on a variety of theoretical paradigms including but not limited to those of Maria Pia Lara and Mikhail Bakhtin. Significant to the study is Maria Pia Lara’s ideas of literature as a “frame for struggles of recognition and transformation” (Lara, 1998: 7) and of the “illocutionary force” (1998: 5) of literature – its ability to articulate aspects of a human condition (such as poverty) vividly and compellingly. Bakhtin’s suggestion that “language is not self-evident and not in itself incontestable” (Bakhtin, 2004: 332) is important – capturing the idea of a distinctive flexibility of discourse in the novel and rejecting simplistic ideas that there is a single truth concerning a particular situation such as poverty. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis onderneem ‘n studie van literêre voorstellings van armoede in geselekteerde romans van Meja Mwangi en Roddy Doyle, respektiewelik ‘n Keniaanse en ‘n Ierse outeur. Die analise sentreer rondom die literêre tegnieke waarvan die skrywers gebruik maak en ondersoek hul verbeeldingryke gebruik van verskillende stilistiese tegnieke en verbale kunste in ‘n seleksie van hul tekste om sodoende indrukwekkende voorstellings van armoede te boekstaaf. Die studie erken dat armoede een van die mees bespreekte onderwerpe in die wêreld is, dat dit ‘n komplekse en veelkantige konsep en tipe lewenservaring is en dat dit by sosiale, politiese en ekonomiese lewensdimensies aansny. Die studie maak gebruik van die breë definisie van armoede soos verskaf deur die Verenigde Volke: “… ‘n menslike kondisie wat gekenmerk word deur die langdurige of kroniese ontneming van die bronne, kapasiteite, keuses, sekuriteit en mag wat nodig is ten einde ‘n adekwate lewensstandaard en ander siviele, kulturele, ekonomiese, politiese en sosiale regte te kan geniet” (Verenigde Volke Kommissie van Menseregte, 2002). Instede daarvan om te suggereer dat fiksie ander maniere om oor armoede te bestudeer, behoort te vervang, stel hierdie studie voor dat ‘n komplementerende “gesprek” tussen fiksie en die sosiale wetenskappe behoort plaas te vind aangaande die toestand van armoede. Nogtans meld hierdie studie die voordeel aan waaroor fiksie beskik in die genuanseerde ondersoek aangaande die onderwerp van armoede. Fiksie reflekteer sosiale werklikhede op interessante, selfs subversiewe maar ook bemagtigende maniere – sodoende manifesteer dit ‘n unieke metode van omgaan met moeilike situasies. Fiksie beskik oor subtiele instrumente en die komplekse krag van literêre metodes om die veellagige moontlike betekenisse en toestande waardeur armoede gekenmerk word, te artikuleer – op heldere asook aandoenlike maniere wat terselfdertyd weerklank kan vind by ‘n verskeidenheid van lesers. Terwyl dit ‘n stem verskaf aan die stemloses – die armes – open narratiewe fiksie die dieper gevoelens en gedagtes van die armes en maak sulke werke dit vir die leser moontlik om deur te dring tot die binneste gevoelslewe van die karakters. Op hierdie manier maak fiksie dit vir die leser moontlik om ‘n beter begrip van die ervaringswêreld van armoedige mense te bekom, maar word dit ook vir die leser moontlik om sy of haar eie interpretasie te maak van die voorgestelde toestand van armoede. Die vyf hoofstukke van die tesis is tematies gestruktureer, maar die analise maak gebruik van ‘n paar teoretiese perspektiewe wat díe van Maria Pia Lara en Mikhail Bakhtin insluit. Lara se idees aangaande letterkunde as “[a] frame for struggles of recognition and transformation” en oor die “illocutionary force” (Lara, 1998: 7, 5) van letterkunde – m.a.w. die mag van literêre voorstellings om aspekte van menslike ervaring (bv. armoede) op duidelike en kragtige maniere uit te beeld – en Bakhtin se suggestie: “language is not self-evident and not in itself contestable” (Bakhtin, 2004: 332) is belangrik omdat dit die kenmerkende buigsaamheid van diskoers in die roman saamvat en simplistiese idees dat daar ‘n enkelmatige waarheid i.v.m. ‘n komplekse toestand soos armoede kan wees, verwerp.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2007. / "Including the plays Positive expectations and Waiting for ships." Title from web document (viewed 7/4/08). Includes bibliographical references: leaf 249-267.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Murdoch University, 2006. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Title from electronic document (viewed 17/4/08). Includes bibliographical references (leaves [137]-146).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Technology, Sydney, 2000. / Sportsmen: Tarpot, Tom Wills, Mullagh, King Cole, Jellico, Peter, Red Cap, Harry Rose, Bullocky, Johnny Cuzens, Dick-a-Dick, Charley Dumas, Jim Crow, Sundown, Mosquito, Tiger and Twopenny. Bibliography: p. 431-485.