From margin to centre

This study presents a postcolonial feminist analysis of Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, examining how Afghan women’s lives are shaped by the intersection of gender, class, ethnicity, marriage, and political power. Drawing on postcolonial feminist theory and intersectionality, particularly the work of Spivak and Mohanty, the analysis situates the novel within Afghanistan’s socio-historical context of colonial intervention, militarization, and patriarchal consolidation. Through close textual analysis, the study demonstrates how the novel represents gendered marginalization as a historically produced condition rather than a culturally inherent one, while also depicting women’s constrained yet meaningful forms of agency. Mariam and Laila’s trajectories reveal how solidarity, ethical resistance, and relational agency emerge within structurally oppressive environments. By challenging homogenizing Western feminist narratives and foregrounding context-specific forms of resistance, this study contributes to postcolonial feminist literary scholarship by offering a nuanced framework for analyzing agency under conditions of systemic inequality

Colonialism · Eurocentrism · Feminist theory · Foregrounding · Narrative · Objectification · Scholarship · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Islamic Studies and History · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East