“Geçici Kadın” Olarak Siyah Kadın: Maya Angelou’nun Ka-festeki Kuşun Neden Şarkı Söylediğini Biliyorum Adlı Eserinin Anzalduan ve Bhabhaian’cı Çerçevede Öznellik İnşası

Year 2025, Volume: 26 Issue: 1, 343 - 358, 28.06.2025

Shirin Akter Popy

https://doi.org/10.33831/jws.v26i1.529

Abstract

Lynnette D. Myles, Afro-Amerikan Kadınların Köleleştirme Anlatılarında Kadın Öznelliği (2009) adlı eserinde, siyah kadın öznelliğini karşıt görüş ve kimliklerde değişiklik yaratan öznelerarası bir eylem olarak görüyor ve onu “Geçici Kadın” olarak tanımlıyor. Geçici Kadın, 'Ötekilik'in çeşitli biçimlerini parça-layan öznelliğe doğru 'ara' yerlerde 'ileri geri', 'içeri ve dışarı' hareket eden akışkan bir bilinçtir. Daha ziyade kapalı uçlu bir örnektir. Siyah kadının, kültürel hayal gücünde ve metinsel sunumda yaygın olan siyah kadınlığa dair cinsiyetsiz ya da ahlaksız, şeytani, inatçı, nefret dolu, bağımlı ve başkaları için yaşayan basmakalıp imgelere karşılık verdiği yeni bir bilincin başlangıcı. Anzaldua'nın "Yeni Mestiza" bilincini ve Bhabha'nın "Üçüncü Mekânı"nı kullanan Myles, Geçici Kadın'ın siyah kadınları "bilinçsiz nesnelerden hegemonik toplumdaki kasıtlı güçlere" dönüştürme yeteneğine sahip yeni bir bilinç olduğunu ileri sürüyor. Bu makale, Maya Angelou'nun Kafesteki Kuşun Neden Şarkı SöylediğiniBiliyorum (1969) adlı eserinde Angelou'nun benlik bilincini, bilinçdışından başlayıp yeni bir özerklik bilincine ulaşan gelişim aşamaları boyunca kendini gerçekleştirme yolculuğu olarak dile getirdiğini, Üçüncü Uzay'daki kimliklerin zorluklarını benimseyerek ve dinamik bir öznellik biçimi ortaya koyarak otobiyografik Maya'nın "Geçici Kadın" olarak ortaya çıktığını savunmaktadır.

Keywords

Öznellik , Geçici Kadın , Lynette Myles , Bilinç , Üçüncü Mekan

Black Female as the “Transient Woman”: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Abstract

In her Female Subjectivity in African American Women’s Narratives of Enslavement: Beyond Borders (2009), Lynnette D. Myles conceptualizes Black female subjectivity as an intersubjective act that actively challenges and transforms oppositional views and fixed notions of identity and defines it as the “Transient Woman.” The Transient Woman is a fluid consciousness that moves— in and out, back and forth, —in in-between places toward subjectivity rupturing various forms of Otherness. It is not a close-ended paragon, but rather a beginning of a new consciousness with which the Black woman talks back to the stereotypical images—either sexless or wanton, evil, stubborn, hateful, dependent, and living for others—of Black womanhood prevalent in cultural imagination and textual presentation. By drawing on Anzaldúa’s concept of the “New Mestiza” consciousness and Bhabha’s theory of the “Third Space,” Myles posits that the Transient Woman embodies a new form of consciousness—one that empowers Black women to transform from unconscious objects to deliberate, and active forces within hegemonic society. This paper argues that in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), Maya Angelou presents self-consciousness as a developmental journey toward self-actualization, which begins in a state of unconsciousness and gradually
evolves into a new, autonomous awareness. Furthermore, it contends that by navigating the challenges of identities within the Third Space and embracing a fluid, dynamic subjectivity, the autobiographical Maya emerges as the “Transient Woman.”

Keywords

Subjectivity , Transient Woman , Lynette Myles , Consciousness , Third Space

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