The portrayal of traditional gender roles and stereotypes in Al-Fayturi's poetry

Abstract

Gender, a category of sexually reproducing organisms, is categorised into males denoting colonial masters or females denoting colonial subjects, as represented in Al-Faytûri's poetry. Extant studies of Al-Fayturi‟s poetry focused largely on political, cultural, social, and religious feelings and experiences from colonial perspectives, with scant attention paid to the representation of gender issues in selected Al-Fayturi's poetry. This study adopted the qualitative method of analysis; black feminist theory collaborated with Zayati‟s theory, while textual analysis was employed. A poem was purposefully selected based on its thematic relevance: Ila Wajhin Abyad and its data were subjected to literary analysis. Gender concerns the sufferings and abuse of dark-skinned men, aiming to rise with dignity against white tyranny (IWA). Violence involves how African people are humiliated by colonizers and how they live as foreigners in their homeland. Sexuality is depicted as challenging feminist criticism, racial discrimination, slavery, and gender inequality. Social conflict is portrayed in Africa's struggle for existence and survival in the face of hardships, torments, and ill-treatments meted out to them by their colonial masters. The research work was given a solid theoretical foundation with a review of relevant theory, such as black feminism, liberal feminism, social and Marxist feminist and radical feminist theory, and crucial concepts such as the concept of gender, sex and gender, gender roles, gender division of labour, gender inequality and stratification, gender-based violence, gender parity index, and gender blindness and sensitivity. The selected poem by Al-Fayturi depicts gender themes that encapsulate black and liberal feminism, including social and Marxist feminists.