Reorienting the Afghan woman in Denmark: Negotiating gender and xenophobia in Amulya Malladi’s The Sound of Language

Abstract

In Europe, the increasing transnationalization of borders has given rise to a new economy of xenophobia and nationalist sensibilities. Muslim women bear the brunt of Europe's orientalizing epistemologies that tokenize their bodies as sites of gender and cultural otherness. One of the challenges for Women's Studies is not only how to dismantle such epistemologies, but also how to celebrate women's differences without homogenizing their experiences. Rosi Braidotti has recently proposed a transpositional approach that highlights the importance of creative and ethical insight in engendering other, alternative ways of knowing. This article argues that fostering alternative ways of knowing, being and becoming lies at the heart of Amulya Malladi's novel, The Sound of Language (2008). Set in Denmark, the novel tells the story of an Afghan refugee, Raihana, who feels traumatized by the war being waged in her country, but also by the Danish integration programme that strives to assimilate her to Danish culture via the so-called praktik (involving three years of language and vocational training). Through Raihana's encounters with various inflections of racism, but also through her growing friendship with Gunnar, a Danish beekeeper, Malladi not only debunks the traditional epistemologies underpinning European multiculturalism, but also exposes the Muslim community's own prejudices, whilst simultaneously creating bridges across cultural and gender divides. Read against the background of Danish immigration policies, Malladi's novel provides valuable lessons about the role literature can play in transforming stale multicultural positions into transpositions that are not only ethical, but also feminist and political.

Keywords:

• immigration
• xenophobia
• Muslim women
• multiculturalism
• transpositional ethic

Notes

1. See also Gingrich, who comments on the increasing rise of neo-nationalist groups in Europe.

2. The recent passing of the law on veiling in France is a case in point. The French ban on veiling was passed on 14 September 2010 and came into effect on 11 April 2011. While hijabs and abayas (a loose dress) that do not cover the face are allowed, any head coverings like burka and niqab that hinder the visibility of the face are forbidden and subject to a fine or citizenship education. The reason for the ban is to foster democracy and women’s empowerment, as well as Muslim integration into the French society. The ban is viewed as rescuing Muslim women from the limitations imposed by their culture. Such views, however, are problematic, particularly because they tend to homogenize rather than acknowledge individual Muslim women’s voices. For more details, see Allen; Wallach; Tarlo; and Grace, who offer further scholarly discussion of the issue.

3. The Danish government website describes the integration policy as a way to help immigrants to become a part of the Danish society. Nonetheless, as the 2011 UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) report on Denmark’s integration policy shows, the stringent immigration policies have garnered serious criticism from the world community.

4. For further scholarly analysis of the Muhammed cartoon, see Brun and Hersh.

5. While the hijab is a traditional head cover, the abaya is a loose dress worn over the top of regular clothing to signify modesty. The French law on veiling bans burka and niqab as interfering with the Muslim women’s integration into the vision of a liberal democratic state (see Allen). For extended studies of Muslim women, see Leila Ahmed and Rostami-Povey.

6. See also Hollingsworth for his examination of the insect metaphor as a marker of power relations.

7. Food as an important aspect of diasporic nostalgia and a means of working through grief also underpins Malladi’s earlier novels The Mango Season (2003) and Serving Crazy with Curry (2004).