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Tales of subversion : queering knowledge, female experience and patriarchy in Carmen Maria Machado’s literary landscape
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867614117550882816 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Van der Walt, Khenje Demee |
| author2 | Phalafala, Uhuru |
| author_browse | Phalafala, Uhuru Van der Walt, Khenje Demee |
| author_facet | Phalafala, Uhuru Van der Walt, Khenje Demee |
| author_sort | Van der Walt, Khenje Demee |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132361 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:46:56.603Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132361 Tales of subversion : queering knowledge, female experience and patriarchy in Carmen Maria Machado’s literary landscape Van der Walt, Khenje Demee Phalafala, Uhuru Phalafala, Uhuru Portia Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English. Machado, Carmen Maria -- Criticism and interpretation Queer theory Patriarchy in literature Women -- Identity -- Fiction Gender identity in literature UCTD Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Van der Walt, K. D. 2025. Tales of Subversion: Queering Knowledge, Female Experience and Patriarchy in Carmen Maria Machado’s Literary Landscape. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/ee44c651-5ad6-4549-8005-bb35ecb30911 ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In her memoir In The Dream House (2020), Cuban-American writer Carmen Maria Machado begins her account of a same-sex abusive relationship by considering the archive and its exclusion of queer women’s lives and stories. She writes, “Sometimes the proof is never committed to the archive—it is not considered important enough to record, or if it is, not important enough to preserve. Sometimes there is a deliberate act of destruction[.]”. Here it is illustrated that historically, the stories of women and queer people have not been considered important enough to record or preserve, and that records of their lives have often been deliberately destroyed. Similar forms of exclusion from archives are underpinned by colonial intentions to devalue Black and Indigenous ways of knowing, further barring these marginalised identities from historical context. This dissertation offers a close reading of Machado's works to highlight alternative forms of knowledge as productive ways of communicating queer and female experiences. By analysing Machado's works, including her memoir In The Dream House and two short stories from her anthology Her Body and Other Parties (2017), the dissertation discusses the necessity of inclusion of queer perspectives amidst traditional forms of knowledge to create equitable spaces in contemporary society. This work explores how Machado uses speculative fiction to bring attention to the consequences of historical and modern heteropatriarchal cultures on womanhood and queerness. The discussion reveals how speculative and subjective works can serve as a tool for critical social change by providing avenues for marginalised voices to be heard and validated as legitimate sources of knowledge, while exploring how Machado’s texts provide a critique of the multifaceted layers of patriarchal oppression. By focusing on Machado's unique use of the speculative as well as her engagement with multiple genres and theoretical perspectives, this dissertation seeks to demonstrate the efficacy of literature rooted in the subjective in depicting the complexities of erased queer, female experiences. Through an exploration of Machado's texts, this analysis aims to encourage broader recognition of diverse perspectives as a response to exclusionary, outdated ways of knowing. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar. Masters 2025-06-05T06:05:40Z 2025-06-05T06:05:40Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132361 en Stellenbosch University 118 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Machado, Carmen Maria -- Criticism and interpretation Queer theory Patriarchy in literature Women -- Identity -- Fiction Gender identity in literature UCTD Van der Walt, Khenje Demee Tales of subversion : queering knowledge, female experience and patriarchy in Carmen Maria Machado’s literary landscape |
| title | Tales of subversion : queering knowledge, female experience and patriarchy in Carmen Maria Machado’s literary landscape |
| title_full | Tales of subversion : queering knowledge, female experience and patriarchy in Carmen Maria Machado’s literary landscape |
| title_fullStr | Tales of subversion : queering knowledge, female experience and patriarchy in Carmen Maria Machado’s literary landscape |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tales of subversion : queering knowledge, female experience and patriarchy in Carmen Maria Machado’s literary landscape |
| title_short | Tales of subversion : queering knowledge, female experience and patriarchy in Carmen Maria Machado’s literary landscape |
| title_sort | tales of subversion queering knowledge female experience and patriarchy in carmen maria machado s literary landscape |
| topic | Machado, Carmen Maria -- Criticism and interpretation Queer theory Patriarchy in literature Women -- Identity -- Fiction Gender identity in literature UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132361 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vanderwaltkhenjedemee talesofsubversionqueeringknowledgefemaleexperienceandpatriarchyincarmenmariamachadosliterarylandscape |