Graduation Date
Summer 2020
Document Type
Project
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in English, emphasis in Applied English Studies
Committee Chair Name
Dr. Christina Accomando
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Lisa Tremain
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Subject Categories
English
Abstract
This project melds personal narrative with literary criticism, as it excavates the literature of Armenian writer and political activist Zabel Yessayan, particularly with her novel My Soul in Exile and memoir The Gardens of Silihdar. I argue that the voice of Zabel Yessayan should be included in the feminist women of color discourse within institutions in the United States. I develop this argument by bringing in the works of Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa’s anthology This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color and showing parallels in themes and lenses such as excavating traumatic histories, the importance of personal identity, and using writing as a form of resistance. Zabel Yessayan’s texts and This Bridge both comprise stories conveying the theme of residing in the “in-between,” and topics concerning womanhood, culture, identity, alienation and isolation. Weaving in my own narrative alongside historical and textual analysis, I bring the Armenian woman’s voice into feminist discourse.
Citation Style
MLA
Recommended Citation
Hart, Grace, "You have a voice here: implementing Armenian feminist literature within feminist discourse" (2020). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 415.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/415
Included in
Holocaust and Genocide Studies Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons, Women's History Commons, Women's Studies Commons