Re-Fashioning Femininity and Motherhood in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Zikora: A Short Story”

Year 2024, Volume: 18 Issue: 1, 56 - 65, 30.06.2024

Yakut Akbay

https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1426537

Abstract

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the postcolonial writers who has made her literary contribution by introducing Nigerian culture to her readers in English. This paper aims to present a re-fashioned postcolonial perspective on the understanding of femininity and motherhood in Nigerian culture and to demonstrate how the perception of these concepts has evolved over generations as illustrated by the mother-daughter relationship in Adichie’s “Zikora: A Short Story” (2020). “Zikora” deals with various issues directly related to the situation of Nigerian women, such as single motherhood, polygamy, sexism and the preference for male children. The article draws on African feminism to explore womanhood as an identity and to emphasise the role that contact with a foreign culture plays in women's self-determination and development as individuals. In the story, the eponymous character is a single woman whose expected child is not wanted by her father. In the final stages of labour, Zikora reflects on her mother's relationship with her father and how she had to stay in the polygamous marriage just because she did not bear her husband a son. This study also shows that “Zikora: A Short Story” is a boldly written story that draws attention to the many injustices faced by Nigerian women in a patriarchal society.

Keywords

Adichie, African feminism, culture, motherhood, Zikora

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’nin “Zikora: Kısa Bir Öykü” Eserinde Kadınlık ve Annelik Kavramlarının Yeniden Biçimlendirilmesi

Abstract

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nijerya kültürünü İngilizce okuyucularına tanıtarak edebi katkı sağlayan postkolonyal yazarlardan biridir. Bu çalışma, Nijerya kültüründe kadınlık ve annelik anlayışına dair yeniden biçimlendirilmiş postkolonyal bir bakış açısı sunmayı ve bu kavramlara dair algının Adichie'nin “Zikora: Kısa Bir Öykü” (2020) adlı eserindeki anne-kız ilişkisi üzerinden bu kavramlara dair algının kuşaklar boyunca nasıl evrildiğini göstermeyi amaçlamaktadır. “Zikora: Kısa Bir Öykü” (2020), bekâr annelik, çok eşlilik, cinsiyetçilik ve erkek çocuk tercihi gibi Nijeryalı kadınların durumuyla doğrudan ilgili çeşitli sorunları ele almaktadır. Makale, kadınlığı bir kimlik olarak incelemek ve yabancı bir kültürle temasın kadınların kendi kaderlerini tayin etmelerinde ve birey olarak gelişimlerinde oynadığı rolü vurgulamak için Afrika feminizminden yararlanmaktadır. Kitaba adını veren karakter, doğacak çocuğu babası tarafından istenmeyen bekâr bir kadındır. Zikora, doğumun son aşamalarında annesinin babasıyla olan ilişkisini ve sırf kocasına bir erkek çocuk doğurmadığı için nasıl çok eşli evlilikte kalmak zorunda kaldığını düşünmektedir. “Zikora: Kısa Bir Öykü” ile Adichie, Nijeryalı kadınların ataerkil bir toplumda yaşadıkları pek çok adaletsizliğe dikkat çeken cesur ve titizlikle yazılmış bir öykü yaratmıştır.

Keywords

Adichie, Afrika feminizmi, kültür, annelik, Zikora

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