CONSTRUCTING DIALOGICAL SELF THROUGH FEMALE MASCULINITY IN THE TALIBAN CRICKET CLUB

Abstract

This study gives an insight into how the counterhegemonic action subverts the discourse of patriarchy in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. The counter-normative behavior adopted by Rukhsana, the protagonist of the selected text, presents a sharp foil to the discourse of masculinity in Afghanistan. She weds masculinity to femaleness by wielding power and domination to it. Timeri N Murari's depiction of female masculinity in his novel The Taliban Cricket Club, published in 2012, is analyzed by employing Judith Jack Halberstam’s queer theory with special emphasis on her concept of female masculinity. This study is qualitative in nature, and the method of textual analysis is used to get the desired results of the female masculinity in the text by employing Judith Halberstam's theory in combination with Bakhtin's (1981) dialogism and Paulo Frieri's (2005) dialogical self.