Kristevan Abject and HIV/AIDS: Jamaica Kincaid’s My Brother and Sapphire’s Push

Year 2019, Issue: 50, 35 - 62, 01.04.2019

Çağdaş Duman

Abstract

Jamaica Kincaid’s My Brother 1997 is a memoir in which she recounts her brother Devon’s AIDS-related death. Sapphire, in Push 1996 , tells the story of a 16-year-old illiterate, obese, poor and HIV-positive African-American teenage girl living with her abusive family. Both Devon and Precious transgress the borders of livable bodies, thus appearing as abject. In My Brother, the heteronormative and homophobic Antiguan discourse condemns Devon, pushing him to the margins of society. Even when he is dead, he is abhorred and rendered aberrant. In Push the continual incestual rape of her abusive family results in Precious getting HIV/AIDS from her own father. The white phallocratic ethos, as well, oppresses the very being of Precious, exacerbating the familial tyranny under which Precious feels one step closer to abject. In this paper, my aim is to examine My Brother and Push through Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection to show that both Devon and Precious, as both racial and sexual pariahs living with HIV/AIDS, cannot live up to the standard, livable bodies and transgress and/or forced to transgress the borders of somatic proprieties, thus appear as border-passing, abject threats, showing “the sign of belonging to the impure” Kristeva, 102

Keywords

Jamaica Kincaid, Sapphire, Abjection, Julia Kristeva, HIV/AIDS

Kristeva’nın Abject İğrençlik Kavramı ve HIV/AIDS: Jamaica Kincaid’in My Brother ve Sapphire’in Push Adlı Eserleri

Abstract

Jamaica Kincaid My Brother 1997 adlı otobiyografik eserinde kardeşi Devon’un AIDS’e bağlı ölümünü anlatır. Sapphire ise Push 1996 adlı romanında 16 yaşındaki okuma yazma bilmeyen, obez, yoksul, HIV pozitif ve ailesi tarafından sürekli olarak istismar edilen Precious adlı Afrikalı Amerikalı bir kızın hikayesini anlatır. Hem Devon hem de Precious yaşayabilir bedenin sınırlarını ihlal ederek abject iğrenç bir varoluş sergilerler. My Brother’da Antigua’daki heteronormatif ve homofobik baskının Devon’u ayıpladığı ve suçladığı görülür. Devon bu yüzden toplumun dışına itilmiştir. Öldüğünde bile ona karşı dinmeyen bir nefret ve tiksinti söz konusudur ve bu onun sözüm ona sapkınlığından kaynaklanmaktadır. Push’da ise Precious’ın ailesinin onu devamlı istismar ettiği ve bu istismara göz yumdukları görülür. Bunun sonucunda babası Precious’a HIV bulaştırır. Beyaz fallokratik değerler sisteminin de altında ezilen Precious, giderek daha da iğrençliğe yaklaşır. Bu makalede amacım bu iki eseri Julia Kristeva’nın abjection iğrençlik teorisi ışığında incelemektir. İkisi de HIV/AIDS ile yaşayan, çeşitli ırksal ve cinsel söylemsel pratiklerin altında düzenli olarak ezilen dışlanmış bireyler olan Devon ve Precious, normal ve yaşayabilir bedenin standartlarına uymaz ve/veya uydurulmazlar. Aksine bedensel özellikleri düzenli olarak ihlal eden, bedenin sınırlarını aşan birer tehdit olarak ortaya çıkar ve böylece, Kristeva’nın da dediği gibi, saf olmayana dair bir aidiyet sergilerler

Keywords

Jamaica Kincaid, Sapphire, HIV/AIDS, Abjection, Julia Kristeva

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