Echoes of Silence: Postcolonial Feminist Voices in Hosseini’s And The Mountains Echoed
Keywords:
Postcolonial feminism, Afghan women, diaspora and displacement, resistance, and multinational and generational narrative
Abstract
This paper examines the silenced yet resonant voices of Afghan women in Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed (2013) through the lens of postcolonial feminist theory. By foregrounding both diasporic and localised female experiences, the article interrogates how gendered silence are inscribed, resisted, and reimagined within the novel’s multinational and multigenerational narrative. Drawing on the works of C. T. Mohanty, G. C. Spivak, and D. Kandiyoti, the study explores the interplay between patriarchal structures, cultural memory, and geopolitical displacement. It argues that Hosseini’s portrayal of female characters somehow creates a textured tapestry of various levels of resistance - from silent to rebellious, deferred agency, and challenging dominant monolithic representations of Afghan womanhood.
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Metrics
Metrics Loading ...
References
1. Ahmad, A., & Khan, R. N. (2020). Conflicting and challenging patriarchal and liberal feminist ideologies and norms in Afghanistan: A critical stylistic study of Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed. Arab World English Journal, 11(2), 154–167. https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol11no2.11
2. Ali, H., Hayat, M., Danish, M. H., & Azher, D. (2022). Transcultural narrative in Khalid Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed: A new historicist analysis. Pakistan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 10(2), 644–650. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0da3/406691fa5b060a29025028423f137278c413.pdf
3. Asghari, G. Y., Ramish, R., & Zawuli, A. A. (2021). Representation of women and circulation of power in Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed: A Montrosean reading. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 6(6), 278–285.
4. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ghulam-Yahya-Asghari-2/publication/357530971_Representation_of_Women_and_Circulation_of_Power_in_Khaled_Hosseini's_and_the_Mountains_Echoed_A_Montrosean_Reading/links/61e534ccc5e31033759f4de3/Representation-of-Women-and-Circulation-of-Power-in-Khaled-Hosseinis-and-the-Mountains-Echoed-A-Montrosean-Reading.pdf
5. Brickell, K., & Speer, J. (2020). Gendered and feminist approaches to displacement. In P. Adey et al. (Eds.), The Handbook of Displacement (pp. 131–141). Palgrave Macmillan.
6. Devi, M. (1997). Breast-Giver. In Imaginary Maps (G. C. Spivak, Trans.). Routledge.
7. Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Vintage Books.
8. Govindaraj, V. (2013). Controllability of fractional damped dynamical systems. Applied Mathematics and Computation, 219(24), 11274–11283. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270277299
9. Hepzibah, C. J. (2020). Abscission of familial bonding in Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed. Shanlax International Journal of English, 8(3), 54–56. https://doi.org/10.34293/english.v8i3.3197
10. hooks, b. (1986). Sisterhood: Political solidarity between women. Feminist Review, 23, 125–138.
11. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1394725
12. Hosseini, K. (2013). And the Mountains Echoed. Riverhead Books.
13. Majeed, M., & Akhtar, R. (2020). From roots to routes: Diasporic sensibility in And the Mountains Echoed. Pakistan Journal of English, 6(1), 1–15. https://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/english/PDF/06_LVI_Jan_20.pdf
14. Minh-ha, T. T. (1990). Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism. Indiana University Press.
15. Minh-ha, T. T. (2004). Not you/like you: Post-colonial women and the interlocking questions of identity and difference. In D. Brydon (Ed.), Postcolonialism: Critical concepts in literary and cultural studies (Vol. 3, pp. 1210-1215). Routledge.
16. Mohanty, C. T. (2003). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity. Duke University Press.
17. Murugan, P. (2013). One Part Woman (A. Vasudevan, Trans.). Penguin Books.
18. Rudhra, S. (2016). Female body as a salable commodity: The psychological dilemmas of women protagonists in And the Mountains Echoed. The Achievers Journal, 2(3). http://www.theachieversjournal.com/index.php/taj/article/view/80
19. Shameem, M. (2021). Renegotiating diasporic identity: A transnational reading of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 6(6), 45–52.
20. https://www.academia.edu/85283648
21. Sharma, A. (2017). Family Life: A study of cultural displacement and familial bonds in diasporic fiction. Poetika: Jurnal Ilmu Sastra, 5(2), 45–58. https://journal.ugm.ac.id/poetika/article/download/64292/34183
22. Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 271–313). University of Illinois Press.
2. Ali, H., Hayat, M., Danish, M. H., & Azher, D. (2022). Transcultural narrative in Khalid Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed: A new historicist analysis. Pakistan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 10(2), 644–650. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0da3/406691fa5b060a29025028423f137278c413.pdf
3. Asghari, G. Y., Ramish, R., & Zawuli, A. A. (2021). Representation of women and circulation of power in Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed: A Montrosean reading. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 6(6), 278–285.
4. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ghulam-Yahya-Asghari-2/publication/357530971_Representation_of_Women_and_Circulation_of_Power_in_Khaled_Hosseini's_and_the_Mountains_Echoed_A_Montrosean_Reading/links/61e534ccc5e31033759f4de3/Representation-of-Women-and-Circulation-of-Power-in-Khaled-Hosseinis-and-the-Mountains-Echoed-A-Montrosean-Reading.pdf
5. Brickell, K., & Speer, J. (2020). Gendered and feminist approaches to displacement. In P. Adey et al. (Eds.), The Handbook of Displacement (pp. 131–141). Palgrave Macmillan.
6. Devi, M. (1997). Breast-Giver. In Imaginary Maps (G. C. Spivak, Trans.). Routledge.
7. Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Vintage Books.
8. Govindaraj, V. (2013). Controllability of fractional damped dynamical systems. Applied Mathematics and Computation, 219(24), 11274–11283. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270277299
9. Hepzibah, C. J. (2020). Abscission of familial bonding in Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed. Shanlax International Journal of English, 8(3), 54–56. https://doi.org/10.34293/english.v8i3.3197
10. hooks, b. (1986). Sisterhood: Political solidarity between women. Feminist Review, 23, 125–138.
11. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1394725
12. Hosseini, K. (2013). And the Mountains Echoed. Riverhead Books.
13. Majeed, M., & Akhtar, R. (2020). From roots to routes: Diasporic sensibility in And the Mountains Echoed. Pakistan Journal of English, 6(1), 1–15. https://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/english/PDF/06_LVI_Jan_20.pdf
14. Minh-ha, T. T. (1990). Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism. Indiana University Press.
15. Minh-ha, T. T. (2004). Not you/like you: Post-colonial women and the interlocking questions of identity and difference. In D. Brydon (Ed.), Postcolonialism: Critical concepts in literary and cultural studies (Vol. 3, pp. 1210-1215). Routledge.
16. Mohanty, C. T. (2003). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity. Duke University Press.
17. Murugan, P. (2013). One Part Woman (A. Vasudevan, Trans.). Penguin Books.
18. Rudhra, S. (2016). Female body as a salable commodity: The psychological dilemmas of women protagonists in And the Mountains Echoed. The Achievers Journal, 2(3). http://www.theachieversjournal.com/index.php/taj/article/view/80
19. Shameem, M. (2021). Renegotiating diasporic identity: A transnational reading of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 6(6), 45–52.
20. https://www.academia.edu/85283648
21. Sharma, A. (2017). Family Life: A study of cultural displacement and familial bonds in diasporic fiction. Poetika: Jurnal Ilmu Sastra, 5(2), 45–58. https://journal.ugm.ac.id/poetika/article/download/64292/34183
22. Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 271–313). University of Illinois Press.
Published
2025-09-07
How to Cite
Abas, C. (2025). Echoes of Silence: Postcolonial Feminist Voices in Hosseini’s And The Mountains Echoed. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 45, 75. Retrieved from https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/19998
Section
ESI Preprints
Copyright (c) 2025 Chaker Abas
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
