'Crossing Thresholds': Radical Notes in Women's Writings ... - JPCS
'Crossing Thresholds': Radical Notes in Women's Writings ... - JPCS 'Crossing Thresholds': Radical Notes in Women's Writings ... - JPCS
Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and SocietiesISSN No. 1948-1845 (Print); 1948-1853 (Electronic)The last three decades of the 20 th century witnessed the poetry of protest , at times ,vitriolic, often gloomy, but always self-confident. The emergence of Ada Jafarey,Fahmida Riaz, Kishwar Naheed, Zehra Nigah, Parveen Shakir, Sara Shagufta, AzraAbbas, and others on the horizon of poetry marked a new epoch in Urdu literature. Someof the poets resisted the stereotyping of women in Urdu poetry as a beloved with fabulousbeauty but with a fickle and callous heart. Their poetry became a vehicle of their dissentand protest against exploitation of women by a hypocritical and iniquitous society‘(Baig2005:9) Journalists like Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah, a columnist for Dawn, the Karachibased newspaper, discovered that women would lose their jobs if they wrote aboutpolitics instead of sticking to the accepted women‘s sphere of domestic issues.A distinctively feminine voice from Pakistan that is innovative, defiant, political, and selfaware is that of Kishwar Naheed. Her poetry dared to go beyond the prescribed accepted'feminine' realms to include issues of female sexuality, politics, and social issues. In aninterview with Rakhshanda Jalil for the Indian daily The Hindu (11/4/2001), KishwarNaheed explained her writing as an attempt to redefine the man-woman relationship.Rejecting being branded as a radical or a bohemian, she declared herself ―a realist‖ who―never let herself get pushed around by men or by circumstances‖. The 1961 FamilyLaws ordinance, which had seemed to predict an increasingly happy time for women,were in fact drawn up by women. Then in 1979 came Zia ul Haq‘s infamous HudoodOrdinances, ―which does not differentiate between rape and adultery‖. Educatedprofessional women formed the Women‘s Action Forum (WAF) protesting in the streetsagainst Zia‘s laws. They were backed by Pakistan‘s English language Press. Some of thefinest women journalists emerged during this period Rukhsana Ahmad translated Urdufeminist poetry, associated for many Indians with the fiery verse of Fahmida Riaz andKishwar Naheed. Naheed‘s poem against the infamous Hudood Ordinances i in Pakistan‗We Sinful Women‘ appropriately lent its name to a collection of poems by otherfeminist poets. In this anthology, a group of poets from Pakistan, who refuse to conformto both socio-cultural and literary traditions, react to oppression by calling attention to theway in which female experiences are policed and controlled by the state.‘Crossing thresholds: Radical notes in women’s writings from contemporary South Asia,’Madhu SinghJPCS Vol 2 No 4, December 201194
Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and SocietiesISSN No. 1948-1845 (Print); 1948-1853 (Electronic)The following poem ‗We Sinful Women‘ depicts how ‗cultural production becomes atool of resistance in a climate of social repression‘ (Silva 2003:28) and underlies thesignificance of the act of articulation, as opposed to silence or oppression. It is a boldindictment of a society that uses custom, religion and even brute force to keep womendown. The poet writes fearlessly against social and political injustices and at thematerialism and sham religiosity that she sees around her.It is we sinful womenwho are not awed by the grandeur of those who wear gownswho don't sell our liveswho don't bow our headswho don't fold our hands together.It is we sinful womenwhile those who sell the harvests of our bodiesbecome exaltedbecome distinguishedbecome the just princes of the material world.It is we sinful womenwho come out raising the banner of truthup against barricades of lies on the highwayswho find stories of persecution piled on each thresholdwho find that tongues which could speak have been severed.It is we sinful women.Now, even if the night gives chase‘Crossing thresholds: Radical notes in women’s writings from contemporary South Asia,’Madhu SinghJPCS Vol 2 No 4, December 201195
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Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and SocietiesISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)The follow<strong>in</strong>g poem ‗We S<strong>in</strong>ful Women‘ depicts how ‗cultural production becomes atool of resistance <strong>in</strong> a climate of social repression‘ (Silva 2003:28) and underlies thesignificance of the act of articulation, as opposed to silence or oppression. It is a bold<strong>in</strong>dictment of a society that uses custom, religion and even brute force to keep womendown. The poet writes fearlessly aga<strong>in</strong>st social and political <strong>in</strong>justices and at thematerialism and sham religiosity that she sees around her.It is we s<strong>in</strong>ful womenwho are not awed by the grandeur of those who wear gownswho don't sell our liveswho don't bow our headswho don't fold our hands together.It is we s<strong>in</strong>ful womenwhile those who sell the harvests of our bodiesbecome exaltedbecome dist<strong>in</strong>guishedbecome the just pr<strong>in</strong>ces of the material world.It is we s<strong>in</strong>ful womenwho come out rais<strong>in</strong>g the banner of truthup aga<strong>in</strong>st barricades of lies on the highwayswho f<strong>in</strong>d stories of persecution piled on each thresholdwho f<strong>in</strong>d that tongues which could speak have been severed.It is we s<strong>in</strong>ful women.Now, even if the night gives chase‘Cross<strong>in</strong>g thresholds: <strong>Radical</strong> notes <strong>in</strong> women’s writ<strong>in</strong>gs from contemporary South Asia,’Madhu S<strong>in</strong>gh<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 201195
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