Malala’s memoir “I am Malala” published in 2013 is a huge commercial success and aroused wide awareness towards women right. Yet, it also brings up the concern about the representation of life narratives.
On October 9, 2012, the news of Malala being shot by Taliban militants took the world by storm. One year later, Malala published the memoir called “I am Malala” co-wrote by a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, Christina Lamb, about her childhood story and her journey to girls’ rights advocacy inspired by her father after the shot. This book has received critical acclaim and topped the New York Times bestsellers list. Being translated into 40 languages, the book provides readers around the world a window into the mysterious life of Afghan women under the oppression of Taliban. Her memoir is extremely powerful in the field of girls’ education for it repeatedly asserts the importance and advantage of education by saying that “our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons.” As a result of that, Malala has mobilized and invited millions of readers in the West who take education for granted to join the campaign for the girls’ right to education (Bhutto).
Malala’s memoir exemplified the power of individual life narratives to extend discussion beyond into cultural, social and historical context. The epigraphy of the book, “To all the girls who have faced injustice and been silenced. Together we will be heard” suggests that the memoir is not only her personal story, but also the story of countless girls who do not have the chance to go to school. In this case, Malala recognized and represented others, and brought individual narrative to collective rights discourse.
However, there are two sides to every coin. Although it is well received in the western society, the reception of her memoir in her home country Pakistan is remarkably discouraging. The book “I am Malala” was banned in all Pakistan private school for not respecting Islamic culture and religion. It was also being accused for denigrating her country by portraying it as a conservative, unjust, repressive and doomed prison as opposed to the liberal and well-developed and ideal West. Her memoir, therefore, is interpreted as the plea for “western-led ‘emancipation’ of the Muslim world from within.” (Brar, 3). As denounced by the president of The All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association, Malala is “representing the West, not us.”
Ironically, Malala who is praised as a heroine in the West is at the same time deemed as the enemy in the eyes of Afghan, who she speaks on behalf of. This raised the question about the role and purpose of life narratives. Who is the audience of her book that she is trying to accommodate? Has the memoir become propaganda for the West to promote their ideals as suggested by Whitlock (3)?
By choosing to include detailed historical background in her book, it is obvious that Malala intended to target at Western readers who are not familiar at and needed to be told about the history. Her memoir also entails a western presupposition that Islam women are weak and oppressed by the country in order to illuminate the exceptionality of Malala. Hence, outspoken and courageous Malala is to speak against the unjust, her image is actually being used as the manifestation of Western stereotype on Afghanistan. In the sense of representation, the book turns out to be far from its original objective which is to speak for uneducated girls in Afghanistan.
Attempting to appeal to western readers at the expense of her own country may also make the memoir a political tool, or what Whitlock called as propaganda. Nevertheless, propaganda can be a double-edged sword. No one can deny the success of the book in promoting girl’s education. It even brought about college programs that engage students to rethink the value of educating women based on the book (Morrison). Realistically, it is reasonable for the book to cater Western audiences given that Afghanistan government is incapable to provide education for girls while western society has both the economic power and aspiration to help. Appealing to the west is far more effective in achieving the goal of universal girls’ education.This, despite the risk of being propaganda, it seems that the positives, for now, are outweighing the negatives.
In this study of “I am Malala”, I find it absolutely pivotal to look at the social implications, the effect of representation and the reaction of readers from different perspectives when reading life narratives. What is important is not the content of the book, but how it is presented to readers.
Work cited
Bhutto, Fatima. “I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai – review.” The Guardian 30 October 2013: n. pag. Web. 7 Nov 2015.
Brar, Miranda. “The Nation and Its Burka Avenger, the ‘Other’ and its Malala Yusafzai: The Creation of a Female Muslim Archetype as the Site for Pakistani Nationalism”. The Journal of Historical Studies 30.1 (2014): 1-8. University of Toronto Mississauga. Web. 7 Nov 2015.
Morrison, Debbie. “I am Malala: A Review of the Book and Its Implications for Education”. Online Learning Insights, 25 Nov 2014. Web. 7 Nov 2015.
Whitlock, Gillian. “Branding: The Veiled Best-seller.” Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit. Chicago: University Of Chicago, 2007. Web. 23 Oct. 2015
Yousafzai, Malala, and Christina Lamb. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot By the Taliban. New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2013. Print
The aspects Emily raised in her blog about the repercussions of “I am Malala” in Afghan society, I found to be extremely interesting. I had not considered how her plea to improve education for women in Afghanistan framed Afghan culture in the way it does. Not only does it assume the oppression of women, it implies that Afghan government is “incapable” of providing an education. However, to what extent is this a plea of “western” education, and does this undermine the traditional education that women receive.