Gendering the Iraq-Kuwait Conflict: Literary Representations of Kuwaiti Women's Resilience and Resistance

Abstract

Th is article examines the 1990-1991 Iraq-Kuwait war as a gendered conflict, and Kuwaiti women's varied reactions to the events of the war, as represented in Kuwaiti fiction. In a category of Kuwaiti war narratives-by both male and female writers-there are the stereotypical images and roles of women: they are portrayed as 'weak', 'passive' and 'submissive' mothers/wives/young girls, and as victims of sexual abuse and humiliations during the conflict. In another category, women's images and roles in the conflict are re-constructed. Relying on the information and insights derived from the fictional texts belonging to the second category, this article demonstrates that the Kuwaiti resistance movement was not solely male-dominated, but rather that Kuwaiti women also served as resistant activists.

Bearing witness in Palestinian resistance literature

“…Again, it is worth mentioning that the characters here are significantly female, a woman (very clearly shown wearing a traditional and carefully decorated Palestinian peasant dress called thob) and her daughter who are obviously not tending to their domestic activities at home but totally involved in the Palestinian intifada, the first of which started the same year Al Ali was assassinated, 1987. These women represent more than the country, nation or ummah, which in Arabic comes from the same root or origin as the word umm, meaning 'mother'; 23 they are active participants in the struggle, on the front lines, not reservists, so to speak, a far cry from the traditional, masculine, essentialised image of woman as merely representing the 'motherland'. Perhaps history (or the loss of it) has taught Palestinians that the total involvement of mothers, sisters and wives in political struggle is essential for a community's survival.…”

Kuwaiti Women Writers and Anglophone Choices: Charting New Territories

“…Literature scholars have examined Kuwaiti women's writing in Arabic (Bernard and Rabadi, 2020;Tijani, 2008;2016;2020). Kuwaiti literature written by Kuwaiti authors who adopt the English language as the medium of literary expression is a neglected and under-researched subgenre of Kuwaiti literature.…”