Negotiating the Subaltern Self in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Gardens in the Dunes and Easterine Kire’s A Respectable Woman

Abstract

This paper examines the intertwined dynamics of negotiating the subaltern self in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Gardens in the Dunes and Easterine Kire’s A Respectable Woman. Both novels foreground the experiences of women who navigate the dual pressures of colonial domination and entrenched patriarchal structures, positioning them as subjects of layered oppression. Drawing on W. E. B. Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness, the study adapts this framework to explore the fractured self-perceptions and internalised conflicts faced by women in postcolonial contexts. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s notion of the “most subaltern” provides a critical lens to understand the structural silencing of these women, whose voices are marginalized both within their communities and by colonial power. Furthermore, Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of the “Third Space” is employed to investigate the sites of negotiation, hybridity, and cultural survival that emerge as women assert agency amidst overlapping oppressions. Through a comparative analysis of Silko’s Native American protagonist and Kire’s Naga female characters, the paper demonstrates how these women enact strategies of resistance, preservation and identity formation within contexts shaped by historical displacements, war, and gendered hierarchies. The study highlights the global relevance of feminist-postcolonial inquiry, illustrating the commonalities and divergences in women’s responses to layered marginalisation across distinct cultural landscapes. By situating these narratives within broader theoretical debates, the paper underscores literature’s potential to articulate subaltern perspectives and to theorize the possibilities of self-assertion in spaces where oppression and survival coexist.