From Confinement to Counter-Geography
The Spatial Politics of Afghan Womanhood in Khaled Hosseini’s Fiction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14672872 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Moussa Pourya Asl (0000-0002-8426-426X, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-18 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-13 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | South Asian Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0275-9527 • E-ISSN: 2573-9476 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02759527.2026.2646144 |
| OpenAlex | W7154136912 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 32 |
Focusing on the spatialized experiences of Afghan women, this article examines Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns through Edward Soja’s theory of spatial trialectics to explore how space operates simultaneously as an instrument of patriarchal control and a locus of insurgent agency. Drawing on Soja’s triadic model—Firstspace (material geographies), Secondspace (ideological constructions), and Thirdspace (lived and resistant practices)—the study argues that Hosseini renders space not as backdrop but as a constitutive dimension of subjectivity, power, and resistance. Through close readings of Rasheed’s domestic architecture, Kabul’s militarized streets, the orphanage, and the Ghazi Stadium, the analysis shows how material infrastructures and symbolic orders inscribe gendered domination, even as women’s everyday practices produce counter-geographies that subvert them. Acts of maternal solidarity, embodied care, and Mariam’s reappropriation of domestic space exemplify the emergence of resistant spatialities within oppressive environments. The article contends that A Thousand Splendid Suns enacts spatial justice not as abstract ideal but as embodied struggle, where agency is negotiated through lived geographies of constraint and renewal. It is concluded that the novel foregrounds the ontological centrality of space as both an archive of injury and a horizon of possibility
Afghan · Diplomacy · Government (linguistics) · International relations · Narrative · Politics · Islamic Studies and History · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies
The Pearl in its Midst
Afghanistan
Seeking Spatial Justice
Imagining Afghanistan
Unveiling the veil
Exploring the Interwoven Themes of Gender Dynamics and Societal Challenges in Khaled Hosseini's a Thousand Splendid Suns
An Analysis of Urban Ethnic Inclusion of Master Plans—In the Case of Kabul City, Afghanistan
Khaled Hosseini's women as modern archetypes
Observations on the future trajectories of postcolonial literary geography
Representations of exile in Afghan oral poetry and songs
Institutionalized Intervention
The Taliban and women's human rights in Afghanistan
Armored peacocks and proxy bodies
Patriarchy, the Taleban, and politics of public space in Afghanistan
Mapping Violence against Women in Pakistan
A Thirdspace approach to the ‘Global South’
Foreign Passports Only”
Connected Sociologies
Reimagining spatiality in South Asian diasporic literature
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |