Abstract

Cultural criticism is an analytical approach that seeks to understand various texts, including literary ones, by linking them to their cultural and social contexts. It is a branch of broader textual criticism and Abdullah Al-Ghathami has offered new readings of texts, revealing the underlying cultural systems by going beyond the aesthetic dimension in literary criticism. This article aims to study the cultural framework inherent in the short stories of "Wajooha Watan" by Fatima Yusef Al-Ali, using a descriptive-analytical approach within the framework of cultural criticism. The analysis focuses on how the stories embody feminist issues in society, and the impact of traditions and customs on women's self-perceptions and their roles, from the perspective of cultural criticism, particularly Al-Ghathami's approach. Fatima Yusef Al-Ali is renowned for her short stories that address the issues of Kuwaiti women and society in general. This article examines her stories in three main taxes: love and marriage, authorship and writing, and religion and superstitions in shaping female identity. The research shows that the author presents conflicting perceptions of women and their issues. She may sometimes criticize prevailing ideas and trends to better understand women's experiences and challenges, and at other times she may accept and embrace prevailing norms. Overall, the cultural constructs have a significant impact on her writing, as she oscillates between acceptance and rejection of this specific cultural context.
 
Keywords: Cultural Criticism, Cultural Constructs, Story, Abdullah Al-Ghathami, Wajooha Watan.
 
Extended summary

Introduction

Cultural criticism is considered one of the theories that fall within post-structuralist and post-modernist studies, proposed by Leitch to study discourse; these studies began in the last decades of the previous century, as an alternative to literary criticism, encompassing and transcending it at the same time. Among the Arab theorists in this field Abdullah Al-Ghathami declares the death of literary criticism and the transition from criticizing texts to criticizing patterns of knowledge, and from the explicit and implicit aesthetic literary study to systematic significance. Studying the implicit patterns of literary texts reveals new features, especially in the patriarchal system. Within the framework of this criticism, the critic reveals the implicit, unconscious cognitive meanings in systemic sentences, in addition to the grammatical sentences and conscious meanings written by the writer.Al-Ghathami believes that every discourse carries two patterns: conscious and implicit. The field of criticism is to reveal the implicit patterns. The pattern is a central concept in the project of cultural criticism, and it is a historical, eternal, and deeply rooted concept that always prevails in neutralizing people's needs under aesthetic and rhetorical covers. It directs general social behavior.
 

Materials & Methods

This article intends, using a descriptive-analytical approach within the framework of cultural criticism as proposed by Abdullah Al-Ghathami in his project, to study the short stories of the Kuwaiti feminist writer who focuses in her writings on women's issues and presents her works within a comprehensive cognitive discourse framework. The Kuwaiti writer Fatima Yusef Al-Ali" authored articles on social and cultural issues. The stories titled "Wajooha Watan"(1995) include ten stories that address women's crises and their reality in life by a symbolic style. The article addresses the implicit patterns and the conscious humanistic trends of the writer according to the framework of social, cultural, and religious institutions that direct the ideas of society toward a planned intellectual current. It studies her stories in the three themes of love and marriage, authorship and writing, and religion and superstitions to delineate female identity.

Research findings

The topic of love and marriage is raised. In her stories "He and the Crutch" and "Accidentally Fell," the writer discusses man's love according to the prevailing pattern, where she portrays the loving man with sarcasm, causing the woman's character to blame him. The writer describes the woman as envious and jealous, giving her the role of "the blamer." In the story "He and the Crutch," she is praised as long as she remains imaginary and unattainable. Marriage is considered the end of love, when the woman transforms from a dreamy beloved to a real wife. In the story "Accidentally Fell," she sees that a woman's success lies in balancing her family life and her social role. In the story "He and the Crutch," she believes that man's leadership of the family is in the woman's best interest. In the theme of marriage, the writer presents a different kind of love in the story "Return from Honeymoon," emphasizing that a woman's identity should not be limited to marriage alone. In the story "A Faded Day," she highlights the differences in women's issues in society, pointing to the absence of a unified. The woman seeks her voice in "Oh sleep," finding it in music as a human voice liberated from the constraints of gender discrimination. In the stories "Drought" and "The bride has not yet appeared", she consciously criticizes the manipulation and exploitation of religion, and in the story "The Owl," she asserts that superstitions are more prevalent among women than men.
 

Discussion of Results & Conclusion

The research concluded that the writer employs many cultural expressions in her stories, but she mostly appears as a narrator and supporter of the prevailing cultural pattern rather than a critic of it. Under the slogan of 'human language,' she attempts to avoid directly confronting the prevailing cultural pattern.
At the core of the social institution, the writer respects the implicit pattern. She adheres to the objectified image of women, according to stereotypical thinking and suggests achieving a balance between family life and social role. However, on the other hand, as a conscious author, she presents a different kind of love, which is a woman's love for herself, and advises women to take care of their human existence. In the realm of authorship and writing, the writer appears aware of patriarchal and feminist ideas in her texts, and transcends gender issues in her writing, adopting a broader humanistic approach, with a holistic vision to avoid accusations or classifications. In the religious axis, the writer distinguishes between religion and religious culture saturated with superstitions. She criticizes the manipulation and exploitation of religion, but supports the prevailing intellectual pattern. The writer oscillates between adhering to and transcending the traditional pattern.