Bangi, Malaysia: A PhD thesis entitled “Waging War against Domestic Violence in Selected Novels of Sanaa Shaalan” defended by Jordanian researcher Saif Al-Deen Lutfi Al Ghammaz to obtain a PhD in English Literature at the Department of English Language and Literature at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi, Malaysia. The discussion committee that authorized the thesis and granted the degree to the researcher is formed from Prof. Ruzy Suliza Hashim, Dr. Zalina Muhammad, and Dr. Al Rabiah Ali.
Saif Al Deen AlGhammaz says about this thesis: The study focuses on Sanaa Shalan, one of the contemporary Jordanian novelists who has produced novels, and more than twenty-eight anthropologies of short stories. In her selected novels, Shalan highlights the phenomenon of violence against women, alongside women’s lack of human rights and social justice in a patriarchal society.
Al Ghammaz adds that this research aims to identify the crisis of violence against women in Jordan and elucidate that the violence against women is socially embedded and fueled by a misunderstanding of Islam’s teachings as represented by Shalan’s depictions of three prevalent forms of violence against women in a male-controlled society. The two selected literary novels, Falling in the Sun (2004) and I Love Myself (2012) represent her portrayals of women’s suffering of physical and psychological violence and demonstrate the nature of the relationship between men and women which forms the constructs the study’s conceptual framework.
It is based on applicable and pertinent concepts from both Western theories such as feminist theorizing that includes victim-blaming and learned helplessness, and Arab conceptions namely Maksora, Muhana, and Muathaba are factored in to show the magnitude of violence of against women in the selected novels which is a reflection of the reality of the problem. The findings show that the crisis of violence against women is culturally embedded and socially empowered in a male-controlled together with the misunderstanding of the Islamic teachings concerning the treatment of women.
The thesis falls into seven chapters namely introduction, literature review, methodology and conceptual framework, analysis of Maksora women in novels, analysis of Muhana women in novels, and analysis of Muathaba women in novels, and conclusions.
