The Cost of Being Heard: Intersectionality and Trauma in The Girl with the Louding Voice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32674/tej63m42Keywords:
voice, Nigeria, Trauma, marginalisation, Human TraffickingAbstract
This paper examines human trafficking as a systemic violation of rights through Adunni, the protagonist. The research paper investigates how the vulnerabilities of women in postcolonial countries are aggravated by intersecting oppressions related to race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, applying the concept of Intersectionality and trauma theory. Dare’s novel presents an incisive analysis of how gender and socio-economic structures in the Global South perpetuate human trafficking, highlighting the contributions of local patriarchal structures to the persistence of exploitation. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality elucidates how Adunni’s marginalised position as a destitute, rural girl intensifies her exploitation by rendering her susceptible to the overlapping systems of patriarchy and financial turmoil. Moreover, Trauma Theory has been used to analyse both the psychological and spiritual consequences of these lived experiences, highlighting the way systematic violence and exploitation engrave scars that can never be erased from Adunni’s identity.
References
Agbu, O. (2003). “Corruption and Human Trafficking: The Nigerian Case”. West Africa Review. Vol. 4, No.1.
Artanti, S., & Wedati, M. T. (2020). Subalternity in Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies: Representation of Indian Women's Struggle Against Patriarchy. Prosodi: Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa dan Sastra.
Bello, B. G., & Mancini, L. (2016). Talking about intersectionality: Interview with Kimberlé W. Crenshaw. Sociologia del Diritto, 2, 11–21. https://doi.org/10.3280/SD2016-002002
Caruth, C. (1996). Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. The University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167.https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8/
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
Crenshaw, K. (n.d.). The urgency of intersectionality [Video]. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality
Daré, A. (2020). The girl with the louding voice. Dutton Books.
Felman, S and Dori, L. (1992). Testimony: Crises of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and History. New York: Routledge.
Felman, S. (2002). The Juridical Unconscious: Trials and Traumas in the Twentieth Century. Harvard University Press.
Fineman, M.A. (Ed.). (1994). The Public Nature of Private Violence: Women and the Discovery of Abuse (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203060902
Herman, J. L. (1992). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence from domestic abuse to political terror. Basic Books.
Hirsch, M. (1997). Family Frames: Photography Narrative and Postmemory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Leys, R. (2000). Trauma: A Genealogy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Makama, A. G. (2013). Patriarchy and gender inequality in Nigeria: The way forward. European scientific journal.
Patricia, C and Jean, H. (2007). (eds) The Affective Turn: Theorizing the Social. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Plain, G., & Sellers, S. (2007). A History of Feminist Literary Criticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Puspitawati. (2012). Konsep gender. https://adoc.pub/konsep-teori-dananalisis-gender.html
Ritzer, G. (Ed.). (2007). The Blackwell encyclopedia of sociology. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DeFrancisco, V. P., & Palczewski, C. H. (2014). Gender in communication. Sage Publications.
RUNYAN, A. S. (2018). What Is Intersectionality and Why Is It Important? Academe, 104(6), 10–14. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26606288
Saeed, T. (2015). “Human Trafficking in Sub-Saharan Africa”. 4th December. http://www.untoldstoriesonline.com/human-trafficking-in-sub-saharan-africa
Tali, K. (1996). Worlds of Hurt: Reading the Literatures of Trauma. New York: Cambridge UP.
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2000). Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/protocol-prevent-suppress-and-punish-trafficking-persons
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2022). Global report on trafficking in persons 2022.
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/tip/2021/GLOTiP_2020_15jan_web.pdf
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2024). Global report on trafficking in persons 2024.
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2024/GLOTIP2024_BOOK.pdf
Walk Free. (2021). Global slavery index: Global findings. https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/findings/global-findings/
Walby, S. (1990). Theorizing Patriarchy. UK: Cambridge.
Wilson, E. (1983). What Is to be Done about Violence against Women? Harmondsworth: Penguin.
