Words of Memory, History, and Resistance: Women’s Voices in War from Colombia, Palestine, and the Soviet Union

This article presents a critical reflection grounded in contemporary literary studies with a gender – sensitive and differential approach, focusing on the lived experience of war as narrated by women in three written texts: The Unwomanly Face of War (2015) by Svetlana Alexievich, the poem "We teach Life, Sir" (2015) by Rafeef Ziadah, and the testimonial report When the Birds Did Not Sing (2022) by Colombia’s Truth Commission. The study includes a contextualization of the selected Works and engages in a comparative hermeneutic reading of selected fragments. It highlights common elements in how war is experienced and the role of both oral and written language in the construction of memory and resistance in the fate of violence. Finally, the article reflects on the role that literary theory and literary studies should play in the analysis, research, and critical studies of contemporary written texts.