INTERSECTIONAL BONDS: A FEMINIST JOURNEY IN FATIMAH ASGHAR’S WHEN WE WERE SISTERS

Abstract

The term "marginalization" describes the social process that pushes people or groups to the periphery of society, frequently leading to their exclusion from meaningful engagement in political, economic, or cultural affairs. It entails deliberately denying opportunities, resources, and rights, making society more vulnerable and unequal. bell hooks focuses on the ways that entrenched systems of oppression sustain these marginalized positions, sustaining cycles of inequity and disenfranchisement. hooks offers a revised definition of feminism that goes beyond the simple struggle for class equality between men and women. The research deals with the issue of marginalization in the novel When We Were Sisters (2022) by Fatimah Asghar. The analysis aims to reveal the issue of marginalization towards Muslim women and the struggle against structural oppression in the novel. This analysis uses the concept of marginalization from the feminism study proposed by bell hooks. Fatimah Asghar's poignant and poetic debut novel explores the close relationship between three abandoned siblings who are left to care for one another when their parents pass away. Aisha, the middle sister, spars with her whiny younger sibling as she tries desperately to hold on to her sense of family in an impossible situation; Noreen, the eldest, does her best in the role of sister-mother while also trying to create a life for herself, on her terms; Kausar, the youngest, struggles with the unfathomable loss of her parents while also charting her understanding of gender.