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Actions that Speak: Gender Play and Power Sway in the Bible

By Jean Dsouza.

Published by The International Journal of the Humanities

It is not only words that communicate. And yet, though words do communicate almost always, there is not only one single way of deriving their meaning/s.
Since its beginnings, Christianity has controlled the dissemination of its ‘information’. Over time, not only was the information controlled, but the meanings/interpretations ascribed to that information also became controlled. This led to the misrepresentation/under-representation of women on the one hand, and the glossing over of the ambiguity that countered or blurred the Power setup. My paper would deal with two ideas: One, the (re)presentations of some women characters in the Bible, thus bringing out the gender bias in the dissemination and reception of information. And, two, the ‘Textual Politics’ where unacceptable representations of biblical icons are glossed over/whitewashed, so as not to upset the apple cart, and maintain the ‘Masks of Conquest’. In other words, as against the masculinist singular fixing of meaning of ‘information’ in the bible, I would propose to posit new directions in reading the Bible through a feministic multiplicity and openness of reading.

International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 8, Issue 2, pp.329-338. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 623.366KB).

Dr. Jean Dsouza

Lecturer, Department of English, H.A. College of Commerce, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India