Gendered Voices: Human Rights and Literary Discourse

Abstract

This paper analyses whether Pakhtun culture shapes discourse and gender identities or discourse and gender identities shape Pakhtun culture. The paper begins with the definition of culture and discourse that I use in this paper. The respondents’ answers are based on literary and human rights discourse, highlighting the cultural impact on literature and subsequently their understanding of human rights. In my findings the linguistic markers present in all respondents’ discourse include usage of evaluative clauses, agency, moral geography, linguistic gender markers, “I” →“you”/“we” and “you” →“we” transitions, lamination/voices and code-switching. I analyze these linguistic findings by following theoretical paradigms explicated by Althusser (1971), Pêcheux (1982), and Leap (2003). Thus, concluding that Pakhtun culture primarily shapes discourse and gender roles.