ÖTEKİ’Nİ GİYİNMEK: DANCES WITH WOLVES ROMANINDA TERSİNE-TAKLİT VE KİMLİK

Abstract

Michael Blake’in Dances With Wolves’u, Amerikan Edebiyatında genellikle vahşi yerli stereotipini yok sayan ve Yerli Amerikalı kültürüne sempatik yaklaşan yenilikçi bir eser olarak kabul edilir. Ancak bu makale, eserin postkolonyal ve Yerli Amerikan Çalışmaları’na bağlı okumasını yaparak romanın aslında kolonyalist hiyerarşi ve geleneği yeniden ürettiğini ve iyi niyetli sömürgecilik örneği sunduğunu ortaya koymaya çalışır. Çalışma, Homi K. Bhabha’nın sömürülenin sömürgeciyi taklit etmesi olarak tanımladığı Mimicry kavramını tersine çevirererek, Dances With Wolves’taki Beyaz Amerikalı ana karakter Teğmen John J. Dunbar’ın Yerli kimliğini bir kamuflaj ve iktidar aracı olarak kullandığını savunur. Dunbar, Dances With Wolves ismini alarak ve Yerli kıyafetleri giyip, Yerli geleneklerini sürdürerek asimile olmaz aksine hem Avrupa merkezli bakışın stratejik aklına hem de Yerli Amerikalıların egzotik çesaretine sahip bir süper-özneye dönüşür. Bu makale, Dunbar’ın fiziksel dönüşümünü, Yerli Amerikalılar üzerindeki tahakkümünü ve şiddet üzerindeki tekeli üzerinden Tersine-Taklit’in Yerli egemenliğini nasıl gasp ettiğini analiz etmektedir. Bununla beraber bu çalışma, Yerli Amerikan Çalışmaları ve Postkolonyal teorilerin sentezlenerek literatüre farklı bir bakış açısı kazandırmak ve Postkolonyal eserlerin bu bakış açılarıyla okunması stratejilerini geliştirmeyi amaçlar.

Keywords

• Dances With Wolves
• Yerli Amerikan Çalışmaları
• Postkolonyalizm
• Tersine Taklit
• Melezlik

WEARING THE OTHER: REVERSE-MIMICRY AND IDENTITY IN DANCES WITH WOLVES

Abstract

Michael Blake's Dances With Wolves (1988) is generally regarded as an innovative work in American literature that challenges the stereotype of the “Savage Native” and adopts a sympathetic approach to Native American culture. However, this article attempts to demonstrate that, through a postcolonial and Native American Studies-based reading of the work, the novel actually reproduces colonialist hierarchy and tradition and presents an example of well-intentioned colonialism. The study reverses Homi K. Bhabha's concept of Mimicry, defined as the colonized imitating the colonizer, arguing that Lieutenant John J. Dunbar, the White American protagonist in Dances With Wolves, uses his Native identity as a camouflage and a tool of power. By adopting the name Dances With Wolves, wearing Native American clothing, and continuing Native American traditions, Dunbar does not assimilate but instead becomes a super-subject possessing both the strategic mind of the Eurocentric gaze and the exotic courage of Native Americans. This article analyzes how Dunbar's physical transformation, his domination over Native Americans, and his monopoly on violence enable revers-mimicry to usurp Native sovereignty. Furthermore, this study aims to synthesize Native American Studies and Postcolonial theories to offer a different perspective to the literature and develop strategies for reading Postcolonial works through these perspectives.

Keywords

• Dances With Wolves
• Native American Studies
• Postcolonialism
• Reverse-Mimicry
• Hybridity

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