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Title EXPLORING HETEROTOPIA: UNDERSTANDING INTERNMENT AND DISPLACEMENT WITHIN GULAGS THROUGH SELECTED TEXTS

Author(s) Qundeel Rubab

Abstract The present research, Exploring Heterotopia: Understanding Internment and Displacement within Gulags through Selected Texts, investigates the representation of Gulags in Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes (2015) by Guzel Yakhina and Between Shades of Gray (2011) by Ruta Sepetys through the theoretical lens of heterotopic spaces. Space studies, particularly those concerned with displacement and trauma, provide an essential framework for examining the lived realities within the Gulags, which were marked by oppression, exile, and forced labor. This research aims to illuminate the connection between heterotopia and the Gulag system, offering a valuable perspective on how oppressive spaces shape human experience. Both novels shed light on the harsh realities of the Soviet regime, portraying the horrors of exile, the brutality of internment, and the endurance of resistance. The writers foreground how individuals confronted displacement, loss, and fragmentation of identity while simultaneously negotiating the possibility of community and resilience within conditions of confinement. The central purpose of this research is to analyze how space within the Gulags impacts the lives of individuals and how such heterotopic spaces function in constructing, dismantling, and reshaping identity. The study contextualizes Michel Foucault’s notion of heterotopia, further developed by anthropologist Michel Agier, to better understand the dynamics of internment and exclusion. In addition, Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s monumental work The Gulag Archipelago (1958–1968) is employed to provide historical grounding and further reinforce the analysis. The research ultimately seeks to examine two core questions: the role of Gulags as heterotopic spaces in shaping identity, and how acts of struggle and resistance contribute to the formation of new communities within oppressive environments.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

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Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2011-02-15

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