Postcolonial Theory and Ecocriticism in Memoirs of a Geisha: Beauty and Oppression

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between beauty, oppression, and cultural representation in Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha through a postcolonial ecocritical perspective. The study aims to analyze how Japanese beauty standards are represented through Western narratives and how physical attributes such as kimonos, makeup, hairstyles, and cultural spaces function as symbols of power, commodification, and social control. This research employs a descriptive qualitative design with thematic analysis. The primary data consist of narrative passages and dialogues from Memoirs of a Geisha, which are analyzed using the postcolonial ecocriticism framework of Graham Huggan and Helen Tiffin. The analysis focuses on recurring representations of beauty, women’s bodies, nature, cultural aesthetics, and power relations. The findings reveal that beauty in the novel is not presented as a neutral cultural expression but as an aesthetic construct closely connected to patriarchal, economic, and colonial power. Kimono, makeup, and hairstyles function as mechanisms of bodily discipline that transform women into visually desirable cultural commodities. The study also identifies nature-related imagery, particularly water and landscapes, as metaphors for women’s restricted agency and their inability to determine their own paths. Furthermore, the novel’s portrayal of geisha culture reflects an orientalist tendency to aestheticize and exoticize Japanese femininity for Western consumption. Through postcolonial ecocriticism, the study demonstrates that the aestheticization of women’s bodies and cultural environments can conceal structural oppression and normalize unequal power relations. The study contributes an interdisciplinary perspective by connecting postcolonial, ecocritical, and feminist concerns in examining beauty, cultural representation, gender, and power in literary narratives.