‘A flower in the midst of thorns’: difference and exclusion in the life and work of Jhamak Kumari Ghimire

Abstract

The article aims to testify about the autobiographical work ‘A Flower in the Midst of Thorns’ written by Jhamak Kumari Ghimire, a Nepalese poet born with cerebral palsy. Based on Feminist Criticism by Jenny Morris, the text articulates the work with the violence faced by Nepali women with disabilities as a form of resistance and resilience to the patriarchal culture and social structure that underpins Nepalese society. The article brings to light the discussion about the barbarities of prejudice, social discrimination, ableism due to disability, physical, sexual, moral, psychological, legal and property violence suffered by countless women with disabilities in Nepalese communities. Difference and exclusion are central elements of the author's life and work, as well as the theoretical framework of analysis. All the information mentioned about the author was taken from her autobiographical book published in Nepali in the year 2010 and translated into English in 2012. The final considerations highlight the quality of the author's work and the importance of occupying her place of speech in literature as a woman with disabilities for the construction of historical, social and feminist resources that encourage the rupture with the exclusionary paradigm fed by patriarchy.