Intersectional Representation of Afghan Female Identities in Post-2000 Selected Diasporic Novels

Abstract

This study seeks to explore Intersectional Representation of Afghan Female Identities in post-2000 Selected Diasporic Novels with particular reference to The Wasted Vigil and The Kite Runner. Drawing on Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, alongside feminist and diaspora studies, the research examines how gender, ethnicity, class, religion, and political displacement mutually shape the experiences of Afghan women in fiction. The study adopts a qualitative methodology, employing close textual analysis to investigate how these intersecting identities are constructed, contested, and negotiated within the selected texts. It uncovers how the female characters resist monolithic victim narratives by proclaiming agency through education, storytelling, variety of female voices and acts of elusive defiance. Through this analysis, the research demonstrates how literature becomes a space for intensifying marginalized voices and challenging dominant cultural stereotypes. The findings contribute to feminist literary criticism by foregrounding complex, multifaceted representations of Afghan women and accentuating the transformative potential of fiction in reconsidering identity beyond reductive frameworks.

Keywords: Afghan women, intersectionality, diaspora, feminism, identity, literary representation