From the debris and ashes of a bombarded village in Afghanistan after an air raid by the American army rises a heroine of a moral kind. In a mono-act, mono-action, mono-character interventionist play, Afghan Woman, Bina Sharif creates a powerless giant, a conscious observer of murder and genocide, and an unmediated witness that provides an onlooker’s view of war, death, and murder and an insider’s look into Islam – one of the most misinterpreted faiths. The playwright assumes the challenge of presenting murder and massacre on the stage through an exotic local periphery. With nerve and unerring subjectivity, Sharif illustrates the agony and horror of war, the genocidal nature of conflict, and the cruelty that can be produced by the mania of misconception. In a wonderful blend of entertainment and desperation, religion and politics, death and hope, she illustrates an insightful perception of the ‘Other,’ while neither blaming her faith nor fully accusing the aggressor of women’s misfortunes in this miserable part of the world. By dissecting the play Afghan Woman—a quintessential example of interventionist theory – this paper endeavors to formulate a new theoretical framework for ‘interventionist’ drama. The study seeks to examine the fragmented features of interventionism, which currently lack a clear definition, and to develop a comprehensive, crystallized theory. This newly developed framework will provide a robust tool for scrutinizing other literary works through this innovative lens and fresh perspective.

Author: Amal Alleithy

Published in: Canada International Conference on Education, 2024

• Date of Conference: 23-25 July, 2024
• DOI: 10.20533/CICE.2024.0064
• Electronic ISBN: 978-1-913572-65-5
• Conference Location: Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada