Journal Corner of Education, Linguistics, and Literature
Vol. 5 No. 001 (2025): Special Issues

Motherhood and Trauma in Wartime: A Postcolonial Feminist Reading of a Golden Age

Haris, Muhammad Naufal (Unknown)
Djohar, Hasnul Insani (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
25 Jul 2025

Abstract

This paper explored how Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age reimagines women’s roles in wartime through the lens of postcolonial feminist theory. Centering on the character Rehana Haque, a mother navigating the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, the analysis highlights how motherhood, emotional labor, and trauma become politicized forms of resistance. Drawing on theoretical insights from Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Gayatri Spivak, Veena Das, and others, the study demonstrates how Rehana’s domestic and relational actions challenge dominant, masculinist narratives of nationalism. The paper argues that Rehana’s maternal identity is a site of situated agency, where caregiving and emotional endurance serve as political acts that sustain revolutionary efforts. Furthermore, the novel critiques the symbolic ideal of the “mother of the nation,” replacing it with a complex portrayal of lived experience, grief, and resilience. By foregrounding the gendered dimensions of trauma and memory, this study contributes to feminist and postcolonial literary criticism and calls for a redefinition of heroism that includes the emotional and domestic labor of women during national struggles.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

jcell

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Social Sciences Other

Description

Journal Corner of Education, Linguistics, and Literature (JCELL) is to promote a principled approach to research on language and language-related concerns by encouraging enquiry into relationship between theoretical and practical studies. The journal welcomes contributions in such areas of current ...