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This paper explores the portrayal of women plantation labourer in Peichi, a contemporary Malaysian-Tamil novel, especially the portrayal of resistance and agency among the women plantation workers who have largely been marginalized from the histories of Malaysian plantations. Their portrayal in Tamil novels challenges the official records of rubber production as well as the memoirs of planters and managers whose accounts dominate the plantation literature. At the same time, the focus on resistance and agency debunks the stereotype of suffering and disempowerment that characterizes the figure of a woman plantation worker. M Navin’s 2019 novel, Peichi, portrays the life of women during the latter half of the twentieth century in the Malaysian rubber plantations, where the economic exploitation has been aggravated by the oppressive patriarchy of the Malaysian Tamil society. The paper will explore the portrayal of women in conjunction with the realist description of life in colonial and postcolonial plantations. Since Peichi covers a vast span of Malaysian history, by juxtaposing its women protagonists against the portrayal of the plantation women by the colonial and postcolonial planters, the paper will illustrate the instances of agency and resistance that are absent in the latter texts. A careful analysis of the novel reveals women’s intersectional identities, expressed through situational behaviour, attempts of solidarity and generational attachments as the great determinants of agency that enables them to resist silencing and marginalization. This resistance and agency are analysed as ‘the weapon of the weak’ (Scott 1990)—a framework that contextualizes the situational resistance of the Tamil plantation women within the power dynamics of the plantation world. Lastly, focusing on the experiences and memories of the women and their modes of generational continuities highlights a matrilineal form of legacy that contests the patriarchal and patrilineal narratives that structure the colonial and postcolonial historiography of the nation and the community.

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Negotiating Agency: Women Plantation Workers in the Contemporary Tamil Novel

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Nithiya Guna Saigaran,
  • Vandana Saxena

摘要

This paper explores the portrayal of women plantation labourer in Peichi, a contemporary Malaysian-Tamil novel, especially the portrayal of resistance and agency among the women plantation workers who have largely been marginalized from the histories of Malaysian plantations. Their portrayal in Tamil novels challenges the official records of rubber production as well as the memoirs of planters and managers whose accounts dominate the plantation literature. At the same time, the focus on resistance and agency debunks the stereotype of suffering and disempowerment that characterizes the figure of a woman plantation worker. M Navin’s 2019 novel, Peichi, portrays the life of women during the latter half of the twentieth century in the Malaysian rubber plantations, where the economic exploitation has been aggravated by the oppressive patriarchy of the Malaysian Tamil society. The paper will explore the portrayal of women in conjunction with the realist description of life in colonial and postcolonial plantations. Since Peichi covers a vast span of Malaysian history, by juxtaposing its women protagonists against the portrayal of the plantation women by the colonial and postcolonial planters, the paper will illustrate the instances of agency and resistance that are absent in the latter texts. A careful analysis of the novel reveals women’s intersectional identities, expressed through situational behaviour, attempts of solidarity and generational attachments as the great determinants of agency that enables them to resist silencing and marginalization. This resistance and agency are analysed as ‘the weapon of the weak’ (Scott 1990)—a framework that contextualizes the situational resistance of the Tamil plantation women within the power dynamics of the plantation world. Lastly, focusing on the experiences and memories of the women and their modes of generational continuities highlights a matrilineal form of legacy that contests the patriarchal and patrilineal narratives that structure the colonial and postcolonial historiography of the nation and the community.