KAE TEMPEST’IN BRAND NEW ANCIENTS ADLI ESERİNDE CİNSİYET EDİMLİLİĞİNİN YENİDEN İFADE EDİLMESİ

Abstract

Bu makale, Kae Tempest’in Brand New Ancients adlı eserini Judith Butler’ın toplumsal cinsiyet edimliliği kuramı çerçevesinde incelemekte ve metni eril epik türün bir altüst edimi olarak değerlendirmektedir. Çalışma, şiirin erkeklik ve kadınlığın toplumsal olarak nasıl kurulduğunu, tekrar eden pratikler aracılığıyla nasıl pekiştirildiğini ve belirli edimler yoluyla nasıl dönüştürülebileceğini ortaya koyduğunu savunmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda toplumsal cinsiyetin sabit bir özden ziyade süreçsel ve performatif bir yapı olduğu vurgulanmaktadır. Aynı zamanda metin, epik geleneğin tarihsel olarak erkek-merkezli anlatı yapısını yeniden işleyerek, kahramanlık, güç ve otorite gibi kavramları gündelik yaşamın sıradan özneleri üzerinden yeniden tanımlar. Clive ve Gloria gibi karakterler üzerinden yürütülen analiz, heteronormatif ataerkil düzenin bireyler üzerindeki etkilerini görünür kılmakta; kadınlık ve erkeklik rollerinin nasıl içselleştirildiğini ve yeniden üretildiğini göstermektedir. Bununla birlikte metin, bu normlara karşı gelişen kırılma ve direniş anlarını da açığa çıkararak toplumsal cinsiyetin değiştirilebilir doğasına işaret etmektedir. Sonuç olarak makale, Brand New Ancients’ın hem toplumsal cinsiyet normlarını hem de maskülinist epik türün sınırlarını sorgulayan, onları istikrarsızlaştıran ve alternatif eylemlilik biçimlerine alan açan bir metin olduğunu ileri sürmektedir.

Keywords

• Kae Tempest
• Judith Butler
• Brand New Ancients
• cinsiyet edimliliği
• epik

A REARTICULATION OF GENDER PERFORMATIVITY IN KAE TEMPEST’S BRAND NEW ANCIENTS

Abstract

This article examines Kae Tempest’s Brand New Ancients through Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity and conceptualizes the text as a subversion of the masculinist epic genre. It argues that the poem reveals how masculinity and femininity are socially constructed, reinforced through repetitive practices, and potentially transformed through performative acts. In this respect, gender is emphasized as a processual and performative structure rather than a fixed essence. At the same time, the text reworks the historically male-centered conventions of epic narrative, redefining notions such as heroism, power, and authority through the lives of ordinary individuals. Through an analysis of characters such as Clive and Gloria, the study exposes the impact of heteronormative patriarchy on individuals and demonstrates how gender roles are internalized and reproduced. At the same time, the text highlights moments of fraction and resistance that expose the possibility of reconfiguring gender norms, suggesting that gender is neither stable nor predetermined but open to rearticulation. Ultimately, the article argues that Brand New Ancients challenges the constructed nature of gender, destabilizes normative understandings of masculinity and femininity, and opens up alternative forms of agency beyond patriarchal constraints.

Keywords

• Kae Tempest
• Judith Butler
• gender performativity
• epic
• Brand New Ancients

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