PATRIARCHY AS TRADITION: A FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF GENDERED AUTHORITY IN MUNA MASYARI’S DAMAR KAMBANG (2020)

Abstract

This study provides a feminist analysis of gendered power in the work of Muna Masyari, Damar Kambang, exploring the role of patriarchy as a traditionally approved culture and not an explicit mechanism of oppression. The discussion focuses on how traditional customs, social attitudes, and inherited standards authorize male dominance and control female actions and agency. By relying on feminist literary theory, the study examines how women subordination, silence and lack of autonomy have been portrayed in domestic and community spaces, which helps to understand how tradition is used as a tool of perpetuating the feminine and male power. The selected novel shows how gendered power is normalized in terms of ritual, ethical duty, and cultural continuity and to make patriarchal control both invisible and acceptable. Moreover, it also brings out the instances of female consciousness and minor revolt that disobey the dogma of conventional gender roles. By placing patriarchy as an internal and normalized culture, this study adds to the feminist discourses of intersection between culture, power, and gender and emphasizes why literature is important in bringing to the surface and challenging the strongly held systems of inequality.