Language, Gender, and Power: The Politics of Representation and Hegemony in South Asia

Description

The book focuses on the role of language as a powerful tool in representing and structuring the world. It explores how language can help construct stereotypes, identities, and human relationships. By constructing stereotypes, language also manifests and perpetuates gender differences. The author examines how gender is in fact made up on a continuous basis in different linguistic and artistic expressions, e.g., sayings and proverbs, jokes, songs, films, TV plays, newspapers, theatre, and slogans behind vehicles, and reveals how these apparently playful activities strengthen gender stereotypes unnoticed. The book highlights the politics of representation and hegemony with regard to women with special reference to language. The readers are encouraged to realize that on the one hand language is a tool of control and hegemony while on the other hand it can be used to mount resistance against hegemony by reversing the discourse.

Author Biography

Shahid Siddiqui is a renowned educationist, linguist, teacher, researcher, academic administrator, and prolific writer. He obtained his PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Toronto, Canada, an M.Ed. in TESOL from the University of Manchester, UK, and completed postdoctoral research at Oxford University. He has held academic and administrative positions at prestigious universities such as AKU, LUMS, GIKI, and NUML, to name a few. He served as Vice Chancellor of AIOU from 2014 to 2018. Currently, he is the Dean of the

Faculty of Social Sciences, Media Studies, Art and Design at Lahore School of Economics. His books include:

Rethinking Education in Pakistan: Perceptions, Practices, and Possibilities
Education, Inequalities, and Freedom: A Sociopolitical Critique
Education Policies in Pakistan: Politics, Projections, and Practices
Aadhay Adhooray Khwab (Urdu novel)
Zair-e-Aasmaan (Urdu)
Mausam e Khush Rang (Urdu)
Potohar: Khitta-e-Dilruba (Urdu)
Pakistan, Education and the 21st Century (Urdu)
Toronto, Dubai, and Manchester (Travel Stories) (Urdu)