Browsing by Author "Olga Yazbec"

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    A Feminist Reading in Selected Novels: a Comparative Analysis.
    (Addis Ababa University, 2020-05) Tarekegn Abraha; Olga Yazbec
    The aim of the study is to comparatively analyze the societal representation of women in England in the 19th and 20thThe novels Emma and Persuasion by Austen deal with the position of women and their social expectations most of which are related to marriage. The protagonists of these novels represent a unique response to those expectations which are the products of their way of thinking. Jane Austen artistically reveals various gender discriminations in economics, education, marriage and religion. As to Austen expressed through her characters, gender discrimination happens because people think that men are better than women. The researcher’s intention, real aim of Austen is then to reduce gender discrimination through education and change the ways that people think about gender roles. century. The method of the study is textual, contextual descriptive comparative analysis. The study reveals the patriarchal assumptions on women, the extent of women stereotypes and subjectivity and the women’s’ selfhood in exercising agency against the males’ suppressive action on females. The researcher employs theories of Julia Kristeva and Toril Moi, post-structuralism literary feminism as analysis framework. In the novel, Women in Love the study analyses the composition of will to power between women and men characters. This thesis analyses the characters Gudrun and Gerald and their concept and competition of the will to power. The relationship between the characters in Women in Love basically portrays their significance, the will to power and the conflicts arising from dominating one another. It also considers women’s wise struggle to challenge the traditional male characters in their treatment of gender equality and their social status as a source of power and authority. Sons and Lovers first published in 1913 is Lawrence’s first most important novel which receives praise. The novel depicts the story of the Morel family, Mrs. Morel, in particular of Paul Morel. The story focuses on the problem of human relationships, chiefly relations between men and women, children and parents. The analysis focuses on how gender and sexuality become a central issue in the twentieth century’s society, and it reflects Lawrence’s attitude towards them. Finally the study concludes on the type of women’s advocacy on marriage through love and respect between husband and wife. The direct and indirect women’s agency in Persuasion, furthermore, male characters’ sexual ineffectiveness forced by women characters and the will to power which occurs between the men and women characters which are mainly reflected in Women in Love. This all are happened backed by females’ education and their economic independence
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    A Feminist Reading of Selected Novels by Ethiopian Diaspora Writers in English: The Case of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears and The Shadow King
    (Addis Ababa University, 2024-08) Bekelech Truye Gemeda; Olga Yazbec
    This research investigates feminist issues in Dinaw Mengestu’s debut novel, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears and Maaza Mengiste’s second novel, The Shadow King. The researcher examines the representation of the female characters and the roles they play based on the paradigms drawn from poststructuralist feminism focusing on Julia Kristeva’s point of view. The Ethiopian diaspora Dinaw Mengestu and Maaza Mengiste have attempted to portray model female characters to indicate the failure of patriarchal society at present. This research highlights the change of portrayal of female characters now-a-days. The protagonist female character Judith in Dinaw Mengestu’s The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears and Hirut as well as Aster who are the leading characters in Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King reflect human characters who depict strengths and flaws simultaneously. This paper examines female characters from the perspective of Poststructuralist Feminism in general and Julia Kristeva’s point of view in particular. According to Julia Kristeva’s promotion of a new generation, Judith from Dinaw’s novel, Hirut and Aster from Maaza’s novel play double roles in the private sphere as a mother, and they keep their dreams and desires in the public affairs. As it is investigated in this research, the authors attempt to portray the female characters as models for a new generation of women who struggle against a patriarchal approach who fight to be one-self and stand independently by leaving aside submissiveness and passivity though negative experiences in sexuality are perceived.
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    An Archetypal Analysis of Zeyera at Genete Pilgrimage Center
    (Addis Ababa University, 2009-06) Neguss Yilma ; Olga Yazbec
    This research is intended to reveal the use of the recurrent archetypes in the Zeyera, praise songs. at Genere pi/grimage center which is situated at a place called Gutlno Genete. in Arsi zone, Oromia Region in Ethiopia. II lVas founded by a hloman affeCliol1(lteiy called Ayo Mamina. The slIIdy is confined TO the functions and significance of the recurrent mythical images and archetypal patterns represented ill the aforementioned pieces of oral songs, Zeyera. In the song archetypes are IIsed to glorify the miracles of the shrine founder, Ayo Momina, and they are also made to emphasize the positive features of human interactions slich as brotherhood, love, honesty, etc. Data for this study are collected from the center mainly through participant observation and unstructured inrerviews. The method used to analyze the data is archetypal criticism. It deals with archetypes which are primordial images perceived across cultures, inherited from time immemorial, issuing from a 'collective unconsciolls '. All archetype is a mythic symbol, which is deeply rooted in the unconscious, more broadly based all afounda/ion of universal nature than all ordinary literary symbol, and is more generally expressive of the elemental in man and natllre (lung: 1959; Bodkin: 1961). The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the oral poets' lise of recurrent mythical images and archetypal pallerns in their efforts to communicare their visions of life. The study argues that the positive aspects of human interactions that are depicted through the recurrent mythical images and archetypal pal/ems of Zeyera contribute milch 10 the existing tolerance among the diversified adherents at the center, and the founder of the shrine, Ayo Momina, plays the archetypal role of mother. Furthermore, Ayo Momina's role as goddess in the praise songs puts her in the upper ladder among the community of the worshippers, which is not commonly seen in a society where the dominant ideology has been patriarchy. This investigation familiarizes the reader with holY mythical motifs and archetypes enable the poets of Zeyera, the oral praise songs, to communicate their visions of reality, which are essentially timeless.
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    A Feminist Interpretation of the Plays of Amhara Regional State Television Programme
    (Addis Ababa Universiy, 2008-06) Fisseha Derso ; Olga Yazbec
    Gender stereotyping is a cross cultural phenomenon prevalent across boarders. The nature and the negative impact of such stereotyping are pronounced in poorest countries of the world like Ethiopia where education and access to media for females is deficient. The preponderance of such stereotyping in the region becomes the reason which compels the resea rcher to engage in studying the contribution of the Amhara region's Television drama in this regard. This study, thus, which primarily focuses on investigating the extent of the reflection of gender stereotyping and the degree of females resistance to such stereotyping, also tries to asses the significance of the plays in abolishing this stereotyping. To this effect, the researcher has employed a purposive sampling technique to select some plays which could better show cultural roles of sexes. In this respect, from the total of 102 plays transmitted in 1997 and 1998EC, the researcher had to confine himself to the study of only five plays. The result of this study shows the availability of dramas which addresses the most important problems of femininity like early marriage and consideration of marriage as a reward for a female . However important raising these issues in the plays is for feminists, the plays are not up to the expectations of feminists because the portrayal of characters couldn't show the expected transforma tion. From the plays, it is also observed that the television dramas a re only rhythmic . with the contemporary society in representing the role and representation of both sexes. However, feminists, in this ,regard, believe that the absolute reflection of a patriarchal society in a television play is only a contribution to producing a new patriarchal generation. Thus, the ;.); plays of the television programme in focus ;, in this project, shall act on ·re creating a. reasonably new environment with regard to the role and representation of sexes,rto bring about a change in the actual patriarchal society. In the sense of bringing the change in the plays and thereby the targeted audience, this study, therefore, intends to suggest some solutions. The researcher believes that both the agency and the drama producing companies including authors have to be aware of transforming the nature of plays in response to feminists aim of creating a new world free from females' oppression.
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    A Feminist Reading of Selected Films: a Case Study of two Female – Authored Amharic Films – Sara and Roman Mehret
    (Addis Ababa University, 2007-08) Mehret W. Michael ; Olga Yazbec
    Women are one of the greatest sources of human life. They were marginalized and ignored as if they were unimportant part of the society. The truth is they are the nucleus of each community especially in Africa. This fact also influenced African women writers who contribute to the writing business over the years. African feminist literary criticism encourages those women writers to open up and write about themselves. Film is a visual medium which can play a great role in directing human’s mind. As it is a new phenomenon in the Ethiopian Society, female writers can use it to challenge the existing social system. Therefore, this thesis has attempted to analyze two female authored Amharic films from the African Feminist Literary Criticism point of view. It examines how the female characters are represented in each film. The concept of feminist film criticism bases on Laura Mulvey’s (June, 2007) male gaze and Eva-Maria Jacobson’s (May, 1999) female gaze. There is a challenge between the male power over female which is also seen through the gaze of each sex. This thesis also observes how gaze differences applied in these films. Films can show the social and cultural expectations established through patriarchy how women are considered to be. This thesis focuses on the emotional and cultural clashes existed using the visual art. As few feminist film critics believed, the findings of the study prove the possible existence of female gaze in these two female-authored Amharic films. Unlike the previous norms of portraying women as sexual object, passive and ignorant beings, few females are made to be logical and intellectual. They lived beyond the patriarchal domination and cultural expectation of women. They were appeared to control their life and influence other male characters around them. They are the center of their own story and become heroines with whom audience want to identify themselves.
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    The Image of the Child in Selected British and American Novels
    (2009-06) Olga Yazbec ; Darge Wole
    .In this thesis, an attempt has been made to examine the representation of fictional child characters in Stevenson's Treasure Island, Dickens's Oliver Twist and Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer based on a psychological framework of analysis evolved from Bronfenbrenner's theory of human development and selected aspects of developmental psychology. Both psychology and literature study human behavior although psychology observes human behavior directly from real life, whereas fiction deals with a reflection of reality. Focus has been on textual and extra-textual details since the literary texts are considered as psychological and sociological documents and are examined in relation to their respective Macrosystems. Attention has also been paid to the discourse and pragmatic features that the characters use in dialogues. Therefore, the correlation between the cognitive, psychosocial and pragmatic ski lls that the child protagonists display has also been considered. In addition, the literary techniques that the novelists use to highlight behavioral traits of the child protagonists, or to create literary effects, have been touched upon wherever such features appear in the novels. The findings of this study have been discussed in chapter seven in relation to other critics' opinions on the child protagonists that have been analyzed in this study. By applying a psychological framework of analysis, the present researcher tried to probe into the cognitive and psychosocial aspects of the child characters' behavior. She feels that applying parameters selected from developmental psychology to literature helped her to make an objective analysis of characterization. Some reviewers, for instance, stated that Oliver Twist, in Dickens 's Oliver Twist, and Tom Sawyer, in Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, are different from other children belonging to their age group, but they did not provide a theoretical explanation for such behavior. Therefore, thi s study has contributed something new by identifying the cognitive and psychosocial aspects of late childhood, early adolescence and gifted children that the child protagonists of the selected texts display in their behavior. Besides, although the child protagonists analyzed in thi s study lived in different Macrosystems, they share similarities, which can be attributed to the fact that they represent universal children.On the other hand, they also possess individual behavioral traits which distinguish them from one another. To sum up, this research is only a modest attempt at showing that it is possible to analyze fictional characters based on an eclectic approach derived from developmental psychology, literary criticism, discourse analysis and pragmatics because the nature of literature is such that it can respond to different approaches to literary analysis and interpretation .
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    Image of women in selected oromo folktales, folksongs And proverbs with particular reference to east arsi zone
    (Addis Ababa University, 2010-06) Ahmed Dedo ; Olga Yazbec
    Dundes (1965) and Adams (1973) suggest that folklore validates and maintains conformity or control in or over the society and educates certain aspects of culture and justifies its rituals and institutions, and shows the manner of thinking, mode of life, and attitudes of the society. Hence, the major goal of this study was examining the images of women in Arsi Oromo folktales, folksongs and proverbs. To achieve this goal an attempt was made to collect and analyze folktales, folksongs and proverbs from two districts in east Arsi zone. The data were collected through interviewing people from the study area, using focused group discussions, making observations of the discussions and also using already documented folktales, folksongs and proverbs. The study revealed that images of women in Arsi Oromo folktales, folksongs and proverbs have been portrayed both positively and negatively and that images of women in all the three genres were highly distorted though some positive images also existed. Regarding the positive images of women, some of the Arsi Oromo folktales, folksongs and proverbs have represented some groups of women, for example, wives as faithful, honest and loving; mothers as fair and thoughtful; and female beings in general as wise and problem-solving. There are also some positive representations of women that are manifested only in the proverbs. These are the portrayal of women in general as cautious and suspicious beings; wives and girls as indispensable persons; and mothers as generous. However, the largest parts of the collected folktales, folksongs and proverbs have represented women in a negative and distorted manner. These include the representations of women in general as shameless, selfish and greedy, trouble makers and evil-minded, stupid, and as inferior to men in every aspect; and in particular, wives as unfaithful and adulterous, and step-mothers and co-wives as cruel and jealous. Moreover, some negative representations of women were observed only in the sample proverbs. They include the depiction of women generally as liars, pretenders, deceivers, submissive, quiet and weak, unintelligent, and careless and unreliable, on the one hand, and wives as disagreeable and disobedient, on the other. The other point found out was that images of women in the three genres vary. That is, some positive and negative representations of women exist only in the proverbs but not in the folktales and folksongs. In general, the over all result revealed that the deep-rooted attitude of the patriarchal society that attempted to establish the superiority of men and subordination of women in its oral literature. Regarding the organization of this study, it is made up of four chapters. The first chapter deals with the introductory part of the study which includes the background, statement of the problem, the objectives, the significance, the scope, the methodology and the definition of some important terms of the study. In the second chapter relevant literature is reviewed and also the socio-cultural background of the Arsi Oromo is presented. The third chapter includes the analysis of the folktales, folksongs and proverbs collected from the study area. In the fourth chapter an effort was made to provide a conclusion based on the discussions of the foregoing chapters.
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    The Images of Female Characters in Films: A Case Study of Two Male-Authord Amharic Films- Kezkaza Wolafen and Semayawl Feres
    (Addis Ababa University, 2006-07) Tigist Defaru ; Olga Yazbec
    Film is a visual medium which a ppeals to the senses of viewers . Through films , messages a r e easily conveyed through pictures; values are constructed, and already existing ones implanted deeper. T a king this dis tinct feature of film into con s ide r ation , feninist film criti c ism is concerned with how m a instrea m film s a r e structured in a way w h erein stereotypical images are attributed t o female characters . The feminist film theory I se lected for the analysis of the selected film s is primaril y developed by Laura Mulvey.This theory basica lly uses the mirror stage o f Jacques Lacan and Sigmund F reud's Fetishism to explain how narrative films are structured a nd represent fema le characters as m ere objects of male's gaze and how a spectator is compelled to ide ntify himself/herself with the masculine subject on the screen. Making use of t hi s theory, an attempt I S made to analyze the way female characters are made to appear in two m a le -authore d Amharic film s. Whether the female char acter s are represented simply as objects of fetish or as s ubjects capable of independent action is one of the points touched upon in the analysis. This thesis a lso looks into the issue of wheth er male characters a r e g iven special privileges in the sele c ted film s in contrast t o female c h aracters, whether the male characters are positively portrayed so that spectators can d erive a narcissistic visual ple asure . The close fem inist analysis of two films s ho ws the presence of stereotypical portrayal of fe m a le characters wherein they appear as mere objects of male's gaze. They are controlle d a nd guided by the male c h aracter s , who a r e a lways found a round them. In contrast, honorable values a nd the pote ntial to win whatever they n eed to h ave a re attributed to male ch a r acters. This in turn m a k es the male characters get the attention of spectators, who place themselves in t h e p osition of male characters.
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    Interfacing Fact and Fiction in Tower in the Sky and The Emperor: A New Historicist Reading
    (Addis Ababa University, 2021-06) Haile Gezae; Olga Yazbec
    This dissertation explores the interfacing of fact and fiction in two Ethiopian creative nonfictions, "The Emperor" (1978) and "Tower in the Sky" (2012). The main objective of the study is to examine the line and relationship between fact and fiction, thereby understanding and gaining more insight into a new historical method of presenting history in the context of creative nonfiction. In order to achieve this objective, an attempt is made to review relevant literature in relation to new historicism and the subject texts. In addition to this, the new historicist approach to literary texts is used as the study’s theoretical framework. New historicism purports that literature must be studied and interpreted within the context of the historical background and context of the time of production in order to evaluate how the text was influenced by the time in which it was created. Using this basic assumption as an initial point, the study examines the stories presented in these texts so as to find out how they are affected by situations in the times they were created and how their fact/fiction, dual nature is reflected in the process. However, this tension of classification seems not new. There are examples that combine approaches and processes, and mix life writing with history, novels with memoir and journalistic writing with fictional narrative, which in turn made the line blurry and the works hybrid. The focus of this study is thus examining how the facts and fiction mixed and made the line between them blurry in selected life narratives. Accordingly, the study attempts to analyze and interpret the two texts in light of Greenblatt’s New Historicist theory, mainly focusing on major paradigms such as textuality of history and historicity of text, and reveals postmodern concerns about re-writing history. The findings reveal that both Hiwot’s and Kapuscinski’s narratives portray the narrative of history and change its closed linear nature into multiple discontinuous histories. The narratives have unmasked the textuality and historicity of the texts; and hence the textualization of the books shows the ideological embeddedness of our knowledge about the past. The authors have explored the connections between literature, history, and the organization of social and cultural power relations through both utilizing and trying to challenge historical authorities and facts. As such, their works indicate that the experiential history of narrating subjects always blurs the line between fact and fiction. Hence, it can be said that there is an inseparable unity of discourse, history and imagination in both texts. The study’s findings further indicate that both authors are more concerned with marginalized histories of marginalized people. Based on this, with a vast array of characters and overflowing with incidents, the life writings re-create a new version of history with fused personal and political narratives. In addition to this, Kapuscinski has undergone a process of self-fashioning in which he was first a reporter (correspondents), and then showed himself up as a creative writer, whereas, Hiwot, who was influenced by the environment and time In conclusion, the two texts prove that both the historian and life writer maintain using both literary and historical mechanisms in their attempts to craft images of reality.
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    The Practice and Significance of Magical Realism in Selected African Novels
    (Addis Ababa University, 2020-06) Hiwot Walelign ; Olga Yazbec
    This study entitled The Practice and Significance of Magical Realism in Selected African Novels attempts to read different African novels through the lens of magical realism. Magical realism, introduced to the realm of literature mostly with Latin American novels and gaining worldwide recognition with postcolonial literary works, has been a focal point of different scholarly studies. In Africa, Ben Okri‘s Famished Road has been studied by many for its skilful employment of the technique. The motivation behind taking up this topic is to fill the research gap in reading different novels from different regions of Africa in one volume and to be able to observe the trend in the practice and significance of using magical realism. In doing so, the paper aims to compare and contrast how different novelists from different contexts in Africa have applied the different features that magical realism is known for. After establishing the practices of the usage in different regions, the study attempts to identify the drive that motivates novelists to use magical realism and it also tries to highlight the issues raised through the magical realist approach. Five novels have been chosen for this study namely; The Heart of Redness, The Bleeding of the Stone, Seven Solitudes of Lorsa Lopez, Woman of the Aeroplanes and Wizard of the Crow. To read these novels, a theoretical framework is formed using magical realism‘s different features theorized by different critics. The practices and significances of the use of magical realism in these novels are studied comparatively in order to show how and why the approach is used in different contexts. In addition, the paper attempts to identify if there are any differences or similarities among different traditional contexts in Africa in the employment of magical realism and if the issues raised through it have commonalities. The fact that the novels are chosen from South, North, East, West and Central Africa and that they are studied comparatively in one thesis could be taken as a new contribution in showing expressions of magical realism in different backgrounds. The study concludes that different novelists in different parts of Africa have used magical realism associating it with their own contexts, connecting it with their respective cultural backgrounds, shared historical accounts, commenting on existing economic, social and political situations.
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    The State of the Short Story in Ethiopia: an Unexploited Genre
    (Addis Ababa University, 1981-06) Olga Yazbec ; Hailu Araaya
    The main purpose of thls r esea r c h i s to introduce the Ethiopian short s t ories to the Ethiopian public, a work that has not been attempted so f a r. The r esear ch examines why the short s tory, which is a recent genre, i s un exp l o ited and unfamiliar to the Ethiopian public. The Ethiopian short stories have been analyzed fr om the thematic and technical point of vi e w~ During the progress of th e s tudy, an attempt has been made to look into the conditions which have hind ered the d e velopment of the s hort s tory in Ethiopia, and have "lade it an unexploited genre~ Finally, recommenda tion s have been suggested in order to familiarize the public with the short story, and to encourage writ e r s to use thi s literary medium.
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    The Practice and Significance of Magical Realism in Selected African Novels
    (Addis Ababa University, 2020-06) Hiwot Walelign; Olga Yazbec
    This study entitled The Practice and Significance of Magical Realism in Selected African Novels attempts to read different African novels through the lens of magical realism. Magical realism, introduced to the realm of literature mostly with Latin American novels and gaining worldwide recognition with postcolonial literary works, has been a focal point of different scholarly studies. In Africa, Ben Okri‘s Famished Road has been studied by many for its skilful employment of the technique. The motivation behind taking up this topic is to fill the research gap in reading different novels from different regions of Africa in one volume and to be able to observe the trend in the practice and significance of using magical realism. In doing so, the paper aims to compare and contrast how different novelists from different contexts in Africa have applied the different features that magical realism is known for. After establishing the practices of the usage in different regions, the study attempts to identify the drive that motivates novelists to use magical realism and it also tries to highlight the issues raised through the magical realist approach. Five novels have been chosen for this study namely; The Heart of Redness, The Bleeding of the Stone, Seven Solitudes of Lorsa Lopez, Woman of the Aeroplanes and Wizard of the Crow. To read these novels, a theoretical framework is formed using magical realism‘s different features theorized by different critics. The practices and significances of the use of magical realism in these novels are studied comparatively in order to show how and why the approach is used in different contexts. In addition, the paper attempts to identify if there are any differences or similarities among different traditional contexts in Africa in the employment of magical realism and if the issues raised through it have commonalities. The fact that the novels are chosen from South, North, East, West and Central Africa and that they are studied comparatively in one thesis could be taken as a new contribution in showing expressions of magical realism in different backgrounds. The study concludes that different novelists in different parts of Africa have used magical realism associating it with their own contexts, connecting it with their respective cultural backgrounds, shared historical accounts, commenting on existing economic, social and political situations.
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    Yellow Gender issues in ''Land of the Bull'' and ''Dertogada''
    (Addis Ababa University, 2022-05) Hana Tadesse; Olga Yazbec
    The main of this study; aspects of gender issues in Land of the yellow bull and Dertogada, is to show gender related issues observed in both novels. To succeed the main objective of the study the research answers perceptions of male characters towards female characters, gender based problems faced by the characters, and what inequality effects has an influence on interactions between male and female. More importantly, the research examines gender roles, relations, and occupational differences, in Land of the yellow bull and Dertogada. The study is conducted based on textual analysis of the novels; hence, the researcher provides selective and relevant extracts from the novels for analysis part. The status of men and women of Ethiopia is stated under the Background of the study and the relevance of studying the aspects of gender issues is given in the first chapter. MA theses is based on gender and on the selected novels have been reviewed to confirm that this research is differ from the other studies on the same title. In conceptual frame works detailed and brief explanations on the main concept of gender and gender related issues discussed by distinguished scholars were given. The usual features of gender issue aspects which are dealt with the experience of women in the world especially in developing countries. From them cultural stereotype, gender relation, character stereotype, intimacy between men and women, marriage relation, gender equality, and women's assertiveness are the themes that have been explored in the selected novels. Finally, the researcher concluded the overall concepts that were raised in the previous chapters. As it has been analyzed in the analysis part; the performance and acceptance of women in civilized and uncivilized society is different. Uncivilized or rural peoples are conservative to their culture and identity. They are honest for the practices and cultures they developed from their fore-fathers. Even though, they have a big place for both sexes, their rules and cultures have side to the men and will not be accepted by civilized or literate peoples. On the other side, women's contribution with equal opportunity to do everything, freedom of speech and intelligent and innovative mind and its result is shown on the other novel Dertogada.