Karen Laura Thornber’s Gender Justice and Contemporary Asian Literatures

This casebook investigates how diverse writers from across East, South, and Southeast Asia and their diasporas have engaged with the struggle for gender justice. Each chapter analyzes works of literature originally written in Bengali, Chinese, English, Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Marathi, Thai, and Vietnamese.

Aimed at both specialists and nonspecialists, Gender Justice and Contemporary Asian Literatures addresses such subjects as gender imparity in male-dominated professions; the lives of migrant sex workers and caregivers; the fight against reproductive, family, non-partner, and intimate partner violence; and norms of shame and silence surrounding violence against women. Informed by the author’s deep knowledge of literature, history, culture, law, and social conditions, this book will be a resource for instructors and students in gender studies, women’s studies, ethnic studies, Asian studies, Asian American studies, Asian diaspora studies, comparative literature, and world literature.