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Female resistance and discourses of power: Sonallah Ibrahim and Sue Monk Kidd

This thesis is a comparative study of the relationship between knowledge and power in modern society. It provides an analysis of the different ways in which the Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim and the American writer Sue Monk Kidd depict the effect of knowledge discourses on power relations in thei...

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Main Author: Abdel Hamid, Ragia Mostafa
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2017
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access_status_str Open Access
author Abdel Hamid, Ragia Mostafa
author_browse Abdel Hamid, Ragia Mostafa
author_facet Abdel Hamid, Ragia Mostafa
author_sort Abdel Hamid, Ragia Mostafa
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.
description This thesis is a comparative study of the relationship between knowledge and power in modern society. It provides an analysis of the different ways in which the Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim and the American writer Sue Monk Kidd depict the effect of knowledge discourses on power relations in their works. Therefore, the thesis is interconnected with Michel Foucault's theory on knowledge and power and their effect on the individual in modern society. Lily and Zaat, the main female characters in The Secret Life of Bees and Zaat are both exposed to different power discourses by the social institutions in their society. Despite its focus on the two characters, the study also examines the effect of the social institutions on other female characters in the two works. In both novels, the characters attempt to challenge the effect of these discourses on their lives through different resistance mechanisms. While the characters of Sonallah Ibrahim's novel fail in countering the effects of power discourses in Egyptian society, the characters of Sue Monk Kidd's novel succeed in their resistance. The study also examines the effect of political, historical, religious and social reality on the authors' choice of their female characters' fate. Hence, the thesis becomes a study on the effects of the discourses of the power institutions in society on both the writers and their fictional characters.
format Thesis
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institution American University in Cairo (Egypt)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:35:43.583Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
publishDate 2017
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spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-1669 Female resistance and discourses of power: Sonallah Ibrahim and Sue Monk Kidd Abdel Hamid, Ragia Mostafa This thesis is a comparative study of the relationship between knowledge and power in modern society. It provides an analysis of the different ways in which the Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim and the American writer Sue Monk Kidd depict the effect of knowledge discourses on power relations in their works. Therefore, the thesis is interconnected with Michel Foucault's theory on knowledge and power and their effect on the individual in modern society. Lily and Zaat, the main female characters in The Secret Life of Bees and Zaat are both exposed to different power discourses by the social institutions in their society. Despite its focus on the two characters, the study also examines the effect of the social institutions on other female characters in the two works. In both novels, the characters attempt to challenge the effect of these discourses on their lives through different resistance mechanisms. While the characters of Sonallah Ibrahim's novel fail in countering the effects of power discourses in Egyptian society, the characters of Sue Monk Kidd's novel succeed in their resistance. The study also examines the effect of political, historical, religious and social reality on the authors' choice of their female characters' fate. Hence, the thesis becomes a study on the effects of the discourses of the power institutions in society on both the writers and their fictional characters. 2017-06-01T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/670 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/1669/viewcontent/Final_20Thesis_Ragia_20Abdel_20Hamid.pdf The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy. Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain power knowledge
spellingShingle power
knowledge
Abdel Hamid, Ragia Mostafa
Female resistance and discourses of power: Sonallah Ibrahim and Sue Monk Kidd
title Female resistance and discourses of power: Sonallah Ibrahim and Sue Monk Kidd
title_full Female resistance and discourses of power: Sonallah Ibrahim and Sue Monk Kidd
title_fullStr Female resistance and discourses of power: Sonallah Ibrahim and Sue Monk Kidd
title_full_unstemmed Female resistance and discourses of power: Sonallah Ibrahim and Sue Monk Kidd
title_short Female resistance and discourses of power: Sonallah Ibrahim and Sue Monk Kidd
title_sort female resistance and discourses of power sonallah ibrahim and sue monk kidd
topic power
knowledge
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/670
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/1669/viewcontent/Final_20Thesis_Ragia_20Abdel_20Hamid.pdf
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