Abstract:
Representations of the feminine as monstrous can be found in any type of
narrative from ancient mythology to modern video games. Witches, succubi, female
vampires, sirens, furies, mermaids, possessed women, ghost women, etc. represent the
female body and womanhood as Other, grotesque and abject, as well as demonise
women who live in transgression to normative constraints of a patriarchal society. This
work looks at the images of the monstrous-feminine within the Kazakh fairy tale:
Zhalmauyz Kempir, Zheztyrnaq and Albasty—and argues that how these characters are
presented, situated and treated in their narratives can tell us what is deemed
acceptable and what is considered as violation of the established gender order. Through
examining these characters, the conditions for the different representations and roles
they inhabit, as well as comparing them to idealised positive heroines, this work seeks
to identify how femininity and womanhood are represented in Kazakh folklore, and
what those representations can tell us about gender roles, relations, and attitudes to
female desire, power, autonomy and transgression of social norms.