International Conference
Representation of Women in Media and Literature
May 10-11, 2012
 
Organized By:
  • Critical Thinking Forum (CTF), International Islamic University Islamabad
  • Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue (IRD), International Islamic University Islamabad
  • Department of English, Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi
Venues:
  • Quaid-e-Azam Auditorium, Faisal Masjid Campus (IIUI)
  • New Auditorium, Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi
Critical Thinking Forum
Introduction
This interdisciplinary conference is being organized by the Critical Thinking Forum, International Islamic University Islamabad in collaboration with Iqbal International Institute
for Research and Dialogue, International Islamic University Islamabad and Department of English, Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi. It aims to critically investigate issues of gender representation in the print and electronic media with particular emphasis upon the formation, creation and projection of female identities.
Historically women have been marginalized entities within dominant patriarchal socio-cultural frameworks and for centuries women have struggled to break free from the bondage of ideological stereotypes which deny them autonomous self-hood and identity. This struggle to find their place in a pre-dominantly male-oriented world has led to a feminist identity-politics which signifies a wide range of theorizing and political activity to articulate new identities for women. This identity politics is a political project aimed not only at redressing the injustice and oppression faced by women, but also to recover and to restore women’s voices and positions which have been erased and elided in patriarchal discourses but also to articulate new models of the self. This feminist identity-politics has forged and stimulated a struggle for political inclusiveness, and possibilities for feminist solidarity and resistance. It seeks to explore and forge alternate possible selves not merely for inclusion in the universal fold of mankind on the basis of shared human attributes. Rather feminist identity-politics seeks to forge identities and selves based on a respect for oneself as different and unique.

Feminist identity-politics is rooted in twentieth century feminism which denounces biological determinism. Feminist identity politics, then, takes up the task of articulating women’s understandings of themselves (and of men) without reducing femininity (or masculine dominance) to biology. Gender is instead viewed as an ideological category or a discursive construct shaped by patriarchal culture. Thus for these theorists and activists whatever experiences women share are experiences of femininity not necessarily resulting from an immutable sexual difference but rather from social injustice. Furthermore, feminist identity politics has also moved on and diversified from its pre-eminently white and middle class origins to incorporate the unique experiences of women of different races, cultures and social and economic strata in the struggle for the forging of new identities.

As the print and electronic media are the means of projection of the socially constructed identities, so it needs to be investigated specifically what images are being circulated. The matter is of grave concern as it affects the lives of women of all ages to a great extent. It not only projects but also determines identities for them. It imposes on them ideals which are projected by male psyche, objectifying their bodies and commodifying their identities.

Today’s woman plays a vital role. Her image had changed from that of a house wife to a useful person in almost all spheres. She has proved herself as a potential political leader, a radical social reformer, an efficient office manger and so on. Her physical weakness is no longer a barrier in getting herself established in the modern world. Women have decided to be free from old traditions, beliefs and feelings that have inhibited their self-expression and are an obstacle to their ability and their will. In this scenario, the role of women in media and literary field needs to be investigated as they hold the place where the discourse can be closely observed, and at best, its fallacies can be successfully pointed at. The positive role that media and literature is playing or might play also needs to be highlighted. These and a number of related issues call for the need to gather and discuss so they impact may be foreseen controlled and made positive.

 
Themes:
Academic discussions and deliberations at the conference will centre on the following themes.
  • Sources of Female Creative power (passivity, body, commodification)
  • Difference among women in literature and culture
  • Fictional Pakistani Women
  • The image of women in contemporary media
  • Inventing the subject: Women in Contemporary Literature
  • Female Perceptions of the New Women (in literature/Media )
  • Beyond identity politics
  • Production and consumption of gender in the media