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Title "I Shop, Therefore I Am": A Study of Postfeminist Episteme in Glocalist Chick Lit Novels

Author(s) Samar Zakki

Abstract Title: “I Shop, Therefore I am”: A Study of Postfeminist Episteme in Glocalist Chick Lit Novels This dissertation is a step toward tracing the presence of consumerism in chick lit novels. The study investigates elements of consumerism in the texts of the selected genre. It underscores a new facet of chick lit novels by showing the promotion of consumerism in a variety of ways. Four chick lit novels are analyzed in this research: Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic Abroad, Saba Imtiaz’s Karachi, You’re Killing Me!, and Maha Khan Philips’s Beautiful from this Angle. A multipronged lens using the selected works of Rosalind Gill, Fredric Jameson, Roland Robertson, and Arif Dirlik has been used to analyze these texts. By analyzing the primary texts, the study shows the promotion of the core capitalist ideology of wealth accumulation through consumerism, with the help of feminist rhetoric in concealed packaging. The study also identifies the positions postfeminist women take under the influence of consumerism and how they influence and shape both the literary canon and the ecriture feminine. Moreover, the study investigates the global reach and its translation ability into local trends: the common rhetoric of glocal trends. Its illustration is found in all four primary texts. However, the analysis of the Pakistani texts specifically highlights a flow of culture from West to East and an economic flow from the global South to the global North. This trend in the chick lit novels is hindering an epistemological advancement by reinstating the colonial narrative in the postcolonial times benefitting the capitalist concerns of the global North. Therefore, as a result, these novels become a satire on themselves rather than on society as they were originally envisioned by their writers.

Type Thesis/Dissertation PhD

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2023-08-31

Subject PhD English Literature

Publisher Department of English (GS)

Contributor(s) Dr. Nighat Ahmad

Format As per departmental guidelines

Identifier Dr. Khurram Shehzad (PhD English Program Coordinator)

Source PhD

Relation PhD

Coverage PhD

Rights PhD

Category PhD English Literature Thesis

Description PhD English Literature