Political autobiography as objectification of an/other: A study of Mahathir Mohamad’s a doctor in the house, M.K Gandhi’sthe story of my experiments with truth, and Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom / Mustapha Bala Ruma
This thesis examines how autobiography and its variants such as the memoir transforms from being the story of the writing-‘I’ to that of its other. In this regard, the thesis specifically looks at how the texts under study turn their narratives into a process of objectification of the non-self “othe...
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| Format: | Thesis |
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2017
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| Online Access: | http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7755/ http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7755/1/All.pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7755/9/mustapha.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848773476685447168 |
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| author | Mustapha, Bala Ruma |
| author_facet | Mustapha, Bala Ruma |
| author_sort | Mustapha, Bala Ruma |
| building | UM Research Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This thesis examines how autobiography and its variants such as the memoir transforms from being the story of the writing-‘I’ to that of its other. In this regard, the thesis specifically looks at how the texts under study turn their narratives into a process of objectification of the non-self “other” by framing their narratives through the trajectory of overarching social hierarchies such as us/them, clean/dirty, native/stranger, visible/invisible, peaceful/violent, etc. This strategy enables the writers to turn the autobiographical act into a space for accentuating differences between themselves and others. Consequently, they turn the non-self into an object and subject of difference through ridicule, disdain, mockery, and demonisation. The main aim of this strategy is to objectify the non-self by ascribing some negative qualities to it. It is the contention of this thesis that objectification as it occurs in these texts is in the main a process of identity formation based on the taxonomy of difference in the social world of the author-narrators shaped by their beliefs and ideologies. The thesis concludes that in Mahathir’s, Mandela’s, and Gandhi’s texts the “other” is used as a narrative device to construct and project a chosen and preferred positive identity of the self. In this sense, the “other” becomes a trope for self-articulation and enunciation within the textual-world of each of these writers. Viewed in this way, the “other” becomes the surface created and sustained by autobiography which could be viewed as a discourse of power on which to bounce off the contrasted image of the self. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T13:43:01Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | um-7755 |
| institution | University Malaya |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T13:43:01Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | um-77552020-06-21T19:27:18Z Political autobiography as objectification of an/other: A study of Mahathir Mohamad’s a doctor in the house, M.K Gandhi’sthe story of my experiments with truth, and Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom / Mustapha Bala Ruma Mustapha, Bala Ruma H Social Sciences (General) JC Political theory This thesis examines how autobiography and its variants such as the memoir transforms from being the story of the writing-‘I’ to that of its other. In this regard, the thesis specifically looks at how the texts under study turn their narratives into a process of objectification of the non-self “other” by framing their narratives through the trajectory of overarching social hierarchies such as us/them, clean/dirty, native/stranger, visible/invisible, peaceful/violent, etc. This strategy enables the writers to turn the autobiographical act into a space for accentuating differences between themselves and others. Consequently, they turn the non-self into an object and subject of difference through ridicule, disdain, mockery, and demonisation. The main aim of this strategy is to objectify the non-self by ascribing some negative qualities to it. It is the contention of this thesis that objectification as it occurs in these texts is in the main a process of identity formation based on the taxonomy of difference in the social world of the author-narrators shaped by their beliefs and ideologies. The thesis concludes that in Mahathir’s, Mandela’s, and Gandhi’s texts the “other” is used as a narrative device to construct and project a chosen and preferred positive identity of the self. In this sense, the “other” becomes a trope for self-articulation and enunciation within the textual-world of each of these writers. Viewed in this way, the “other” becomes the surface created and sustained by autobiography which could be viewed as a discourse of power on which to bounce off the contrasted image of the self. 2017-06 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7755/1/All.pdf application/pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7755/9/mustapha.pdf Mustapha, Bala Ruma (2017) Political autobiography as objectification of an/other: A study of Mahathir Mohamad’s a doctor in the house, M.K Gandhi’sthe story of my experiments with truth, and Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom / Mustapha Bala Ruma. PhD thesis, University of Malaya. http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7755/ |
| spellingShingle | H Social Sciences (General) JC Political theory Mustapha, Bala Ruma Political autobiography as objectification of an/other: A study of Mahathir Mohamad’s a doctor in the house, M.K Gandhi’sthe story of my experiments with truth, and Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom / Mustapha Bala Ruma |
| title | Political autobiography as objectification of an/other: A study of Mahathir Mohamad’s a doctor in the house, M.K Gandhi’sthe story of my experiments with truth, and Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom / Mustapha Bala Ruma |
| title_full | Political autobiography as objectification of an/other: A study of Mahathir Mohamad’s a doctor in the house, M.K Gandhi’sthe story of my experiments with truth, and Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom / Mustapha Bala Ruma |
| title_fullStr | Political autobiography as objectification of an/other: A study of Mahathir Mohamad’s a doctor in the house, M.K Gandhi’sthe story of my experiments with truth, and Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom / Mustapha Bala Ruma |
| title_full_unstemmed | Political autobiography as objectification of an/other: A study of Mahathir Mohamad’s a doctor in the house, M.K Gandhi’sthe story of my experiments with truth, and Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom / Mustapha Bala Ruma |
| title_short | Political autobiography as objectification of an/other: A study of Mahathir Mohamad’s a doctor in the house, M.K Gandhi’sthe story of my experiments with truth, and Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom / Mustapha Bala Ruma |
| title_sort | political autobiography as objectification of an/other: a study of mahathir mohamad’s a doctor in the house, m.k gandhi’sthe story of my experiments with truth, and nelson mandela’s long walk to freedom / mustapha bala ruma |
| topic | H Social Sciences (General) JC Political theory |
| url | http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7755/ http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7755/1/All.pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7755/9/mustapha.pdf |