Colonial Shadows and Female Resistance: Examining Power Dynamics and Psychological Trauma in Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King

Power relations, gender roles, and psychological trauma are themes explored in this book as Maaza Mengiste rewrites the histories of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in The Shadow King. The novel includes a story that is dissimilar to other colonization liberation stories, due to the portrayal of Ethiopian women, like Hirut, who is unconventional and becomes a warrior. Mengiste challenges the trope of colonialism by U.Särkij Spotlighting the mental cost of the Italian colonizers, Mengiste, as well as examining trauma and resistance in Ethiopian characters, provides a sobering portrayal of colonial evil. The themes contained in the work are discussed through the lens of post-colonial theories – Frantz Fanon and Gayatri Spivak, focusing on the way in which Mengiste’s novel undermines colonial and patriarchal systems, and uncover the perpetual effects of trauma on the character. This research underscores The Shadow King and its possibilities for the postcolonial literature project of interrupting historical narratives and subjugated histories in historical fiction.