ABSTRACT

Muslim female subjectivity in Pakistan has mostly been defined through the dualistic perspectives of secular and religious standpoints. This paper, however, aims to examine and foreground the agentive efficacy of subjectivity, which is neither exclusively secular nor religious. Mohsin Hamid’s novel How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia presents a nuanced literary depiction of the Muslim female subject position. By taking the ‘lived’ experiences of major and minor female characters in fiction as case studies, this paper argues that the subjectivity of Muslim women is interstitial, rather than exclusively religious or secular. It argues that exclusive perspectives restrict and reduce Pakistani Muslim women’s agency and that negotiated identity built through performativity somewhere in a third-space is more agential, workable and socially accepted. Such negotiated identity can bring about transformation in women’s gendered subjectivity. This paper advances feminist discourse in Pakistan by foregrounding the epistemology of performativity and third-space to ascertain the efficacy and workability of Muslim women’s agency.

摘要

巴基斯坦的穆斯林女性主体性主要是通过世俗和宗教立场的二元视角来定义的。然而，本文旨在检验和展望主观性的代理功效，它既不是世俗的也不是宗教的。Mohsin Hamid 的小说《如何在崛起的亚洲变得肮脏致富》对穆斯林女性主体地位进行了细致入微的文学描绘。通过以小说中主要和次要女性角色的“生活”经历作为案例研究，本文认为穆斯林女性的主体性是间隙性的，而不仅仅是宗教或世俗的。它认为，排他性的观点限制和减少了巴基斯坦穆斯林妇女的能动性，并且通过第三空间某处的表演性建立了协商的身份更具代理性、可操作性和社会接受度。这种协商的身份可以带来女性性别主体性的转变。本文通过突出表演性认识论和第三空间来确定穆斯林妇女机构的有效性和可操作性，从而推进了巴基斯坦的女权主义话语。