The Impact of Kamala Das’s Poetry on Female Students in the English Department at Daffodil International University: Perspectives on Rights, Awareness, and Identity Formation

Abstract

This study examines the impact of Kamala Das’s poetry on the perspectives of rights and awareness among female students in the English Department at Daffodil InternationalUniversity. Kamala Das is a renowned Indian feminist poet, mainly known for her bold portrayal of female hopes, sufferings, desires, and sexuality. Through her poetry, she fights against patriarchal oppression. This study focuses on the direct impact of Kamala Das’s poetry on Bangladeshi female students. While most feminist studies focus on Western perspectives, this study makes a change by focusing on young female Bangladeshi individuals. In this study, I use a mixed-method approach. For this study, I surveyed 20 female students in the English department. The findings of this survey reveal how transformative Kamala Das’s poetry can be. 95% of participants liked Kamala Das’s poetry, and they mentioned that her poetry influenced them to think about personal freedom and question societal expectations. 85% of participants mentioned that Kamala Das’s poetry influences the sense of importance of female empowerment. This survey also reveals the emotional connections between Kamala Das’s poetry and Bangladeshi female students. This study highlights the important role of feminist literature in education. It shows how Kamala Das’s poetry creates an impact on female students to raise their voices against patriarchal oppression and reclaim their own identity and rights. However, this research has limitations, such as the small sample size and the avoidance of nuanced differences between Bangladeshi and Indian contexts. It could not focus on socio-economic perspectives and others. Future studies could expand to fill in all limitations.