A FEMINIST REREADING OF “LEYLA” IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL DISCOURSE AND RAPE
Research Article
A FEMINIST REREADING OF “LEYLA” IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL DISCOURSE AND RAPE
ABSTRACT
Exploring rape as an instrument of genocide, the paper focuses on the Bosnian war of the early 1990’s to
show that repeated gang rapes are part of the official policy of the Serbian leadership. Serbian policy has
been portrayed as being in the service of a demand that is designed to terrorize Bosnian Muslims fleeing
Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to undermine the population's ability to resist, to break the biological
bond by killing men and forcing women to become pregnant - all of which is racial oppression. It was
emphasized that an important purpose of genocidal rape is to inflict constant pain, humiliation and shame
on girls and women. Serbia's genocidal rape policy in Bosnia is intended to have long-term consequences,
in the form of eliminating the possibility of young women getting married and ensuring the rejection of
girls and women who have been raped by their families in a society where rape is a cultural disgrace. In
this study, the attachment of the woman's body to the nationalist discourse in the Bosnia and HerzegovinaSerbian war that started in 1992 and lasted for four years was examined in the context of feminist criticism
and national discourse. The analysis is based on the novel “Leyla”, written by the German journalist,
Alexsandra Cavelius, in which she tells about the rape of the woman-victim of the war, Leyla.
, M.,
&
, .,
(2022). A FEMINIST REREADING OF “LEYLA” IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL DISCOURSE AND RAPE. International Journal of Education and Philology, 3(1), 103-115. Arrival Date Posted By:https://ijep.ibupress.com/articles/a-feminist-rereading-of-leyla-in-the-context-of-national-discourse-and-rape
