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THE STUDY OF POWER DYNAMICS AND IDENTITY CRISIS IN SORAYYA KHAN’S CITY OF SPIES
Corresponding Author(s) : Shaista Shahzadi
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews,
Vol. 9 No. 3 (2021): May
Abstract
Purpose of the study: This study investigates the identity crises and power relations drawing upon Michel Foucault's theory of power tracing the impacts of power dynamics. The study investigates how power dynamics operate in the novel; what is the nature of these power relations; and how the mode of resistance emerges and in what ways by keeping the concept of power and identity by Michel Foucault.
Methodology: This part follows the qualitative method in which Sorayya Khan’s City of Spies is analyzed through Foucault's theory of power. The theoretical background of this research is drawn from the concept of Power which is running in all works of Foucault.
Main Findings: This study has examined the novel from a Foucauldian perspective, which posits that Power is everywhere and it comes from everywhere. For him, it is Power which/that shapes everything whether it is Truth or Identity. Foucault sees power as all-around invisibility that exposes rather than encloses like the panopticon. The society he believes works as a panopticon in which the power effectively induces in the subjects a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.
Applications of this study: This study can be applied to power dynamics literature.
Novelty/Originality of this study: The current interpretation of the novel only sees it as a bildungsroman i.e., as a journey of a girl around the political reality of her era. This present study strives to change it by investigating through the lens of power dynamics and its consequent effect on consciousness leading to an identity crisis. The present study will strengthen the interpretation of the novel as a political novel and will illustrate the effects of the political on the human psyche.
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- Ali, S. (2018). The Analysis of Five Queen’s Road by Sorayya Khan in the lens of Historiographic Metafiction (Doctoral dissertation, University of Management & Technology).
- Anjum, Z. (2015). “Kitaab Review of 'City of Spies: A Novel,' by Sorayya Khan.†Kitaab.
- Chakrabarty, B. (2017)."Topography of Loss: Homeland, History and Memory in Sorayya Khan’s Fiction." Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature,11(1), 86-101.
- Cilano, C. N. (2013). Contemporary Pakistani fiction in English: Idea, nation, state. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203552247 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203552247
- Bernauer, J. and Rasmussen, D., eds. (1988). The Final Foucault, 11Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Foucault, M, Kelly & Habermas, J. (1994). Critique and power: recasting the Foucault/Habermas debate. MIT press.
- Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977. Vintage.
- Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical inquiry, 8(4), 777-795. https://doi.org/10.1086/448181 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/448181
- Foucault, M. (1991). Politics and the study of discourse. In Burchell, G., Gordon, C. & Miller, P. (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (pp. 53–72). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- Foucault, M. (1998) The History of Sexuality: The Will to Knowledge, London, Penguin.
- Foucault, M. (2021). Intellectuals and power. In Language, counter-memory, practice (pp. 205-217). Cornell University Press.
- Gaventa, J. (2003). Power after Lukes: An Overview of Theories of Power since Lukes and Their Application to Development. Brighton: Participation Group, Institute of Development Studies. https://www.powercube.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/power_after_lukes.pdf
- Hamilton, M. (2017). A Young Woman Caught between Pakistan and the West. Retrieved from
- Hasnain, S. (2016). City of Spies. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/SheikhHasnain2/city-of-spies-by-sorayya-khan-62498585
- Ibrahimi, N. (2017). Dynamics of Contentious Politics in Afghanistan, 2001-2016. PhD Thesis. The Australian National University.
- Khan, S. (2015). City of Spies. Aleph Book Company
- Khan, S. (2015). The Silence and Forgetting That Wrote NOOR. Journal of Narrative Politics, 1(2).
- Khan, S. (2017). “City of Spies.†Kirkus Reviews.
- Khan, S. (2017). City of Spies. Brilliance Audio.
- Malik, J. (2020). Muslim Heterogeneity: Margins Becoming Centres of Muslim Power (Approx. 1300–1500). In Islam in South Asia (pp. 153-201). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004422711_006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004422711_006
- Mohr, John W. & Brooke, N. (2009). Modeling Foucault: Dualities of power in institutional fields. Institutions and Ideology. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2009)0000027009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2009)0000027009
- Nader, L. (2012). Culture and dignity: Dialogues between the Middle East and the West. John Wiley & Sons.
- Rahman, T. (2020). Pakistani English. The Handbook of Asian Englishes, 279-296. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118791882.ch11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118791882.ch11
- Rostami-Povey, E., &Poya, M. (2007). Afghan women: Identity and invasion. Zed Books. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350218062 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350218062
- Shamsie, M. (2016). Pakistani English Novels in the New Millennium: Migration, Geopolitics, and Tribal Tales. New Soundings in Postcolonial Writing: Critical and Creative Contours, Cross/Cultures, 189, 149–169. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004329270_012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004329270_012
- Shamsie, M. (2017). Pakistani-English Writing. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.69 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.69
- Turner, E. (2015). Kitaab Review of ‘City of Spies: A Novel,’ by Sorayya Khan. Kitaab.
- Yousuf, I. (2015). Book Review: City of Spies. Retrieved from https://newslinemagazine.com/magazine/b ook-review-city-of-spies/
- Zaidi, A. (2015). Book Review: City of Spies. Retrieved from https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/LsyZsBTk N07B3kzIlUWOeI/Book-review-City-of-Spies.html
References
Ali, S. (2018). The Analysis of Five Queen’s Road by Sorayya Khan in the lens of Historiographic Metafiction (Doctoral dissertation, University of Management & Technology).
Anjum, Z. (2015). “Kitaab Review of 'City of Spies: A Novel,' by Sorayya Khan.†Kitaab.
Chakrabarty, B. (2017)."Topography of Loss: Homeland, History and Memory in Sorayya Khan’s Fiction." Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature,11(1), 86-101.
Cilano, C. N. (2013). Contemporary Pakistani fiction in English: Idea, nation, state. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203552247 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203552247
Bernauer, J. and Rasmussen, D., eds. (1988). The Final Foucault, 11Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Foucault, M, Kelly & Habermas, J. (1994). Critique and power: recasting the Foucault/Habermas debate. MIT press.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977. Vintage.
Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical inquiry, 8(4), 777-795. https://doi.org/10.1086/448181 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/448181
Foucault, M. (1991). Politics and the study of discourse. In Burchell, G., Gordon, C. & Miller, P. (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (pp. 53–72). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Foucault, M. (1998) The History of Sexuality: The Will to Knowledge, London, Penguin.
Foucault, M. (2021). Intellectuals and power. In Language, counter-memory, practice (pp. 205-217). Cornell University Press.
Gaventa, J. (2003). Power after Lukes: An Overview of Theories of Power since Lukes and Their Application to Development. Brighton: Participation Group, Institute of Development Studies. https://www.powercube.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/power_after_lukes.pdf
Hamilton, M. (2017). A Young Woman Caught between Pakistan and the West. Retrieved from
Hasnain, S. (2016). City of Spies. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/SheikhHasnain2/city-of-spies-by-sorayya-khan-62498585
Ibrahimi, N. (2017). Dynamics of Contentious Politics in Afghanistan, 2001-2016. PhD Thesis. The Australian National University.
Khan, S. (2015). City of Spies. Aleph Book Company
Khan, S. (2015). The Silence and Forgetting That Wrote NOOR. Journal of Narrative Politics, 1(2).
Khan, S. (2017). “City of Spies.†Kirkus Reviews.
Khan, S. (2017). City of Spies. Brilliance Audio.
Malik, J. (2020). Muslim Heterogeneity: Margins Becoming Centres of Muslim Power (Approx. 1300–1500). In Islam in South Asia (pp. 153-201). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004422711_006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004422711_006
Mohr, John W. & Brooke, N. (2009). Modeling Foucault: Dualities of power in institutional fields. Institutions and Ideology. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2009)0000027009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2009)0000027009
Nader, L. (2012). Culture and dignity: Dialogues between the Middle East and the West. John Wiley & Sons.
Rahman, T. (2020). Pakistani English. The Handbook of Asian Englishes, 279-296. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118791882.ch11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118791882.ch11
Rostami-Povey, E., &Poya, M. (2007). Afghan women: Identity and invasion. Zed Books. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350218062 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350218062
Shamsie, M. (2016). Pakistani English Novels in the New Millennium: Migration, Geopolitics, and Tribal Tales. New Soundings in Postcolonial Writing: Critical and Creative Contours, Cross/Cultures, 189, 149–169. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004329270_012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004329270_012
Shamsie, M. (2017). Pakistani-English Writing. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.69 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.69
Turner, E. (2015). Kitaab Review of ‘City of Spies: A Novel,’ by Sorayya Khan. Kitaab.
Yousuf, I. (2015). Book Review: City of Spies. Retrieved from https://newslinemagazine.com/magazine/b ook-review-city-of-spies/
Zaidi, A. (2015). Book Review: City of Spies. Retrieved from https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/LsyZsBTk N07B3kzIlUWOeI/Book-review-City-of-Spies.html