FROM SUBMISSION TO SELF-FASHIONING: FIELD, HABITUS AND CAPITAL IN BRICK LANE

Abstract

This article offers a Bourdieusian reading of Monica Ali’s Brick Lane, situating the novel at the intersection of literature and social theory. Employing critical close reading, the study foregrounds how Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital, habitus, and symbolic violence illuminate Nazneen’s trajectory as a Bangladeshi immigrant woman in London. Beginning with her limited economic, social, and cultural resources, Nazneen’s story is examined as a negotiation of subalternity within a patriarchal and diasporic community. Through her gradual accumulation of capital, she adapts her habitus to the London field and asserts increasing autonomy. The analysis highlights the role of symbolic violence in constraining her agency and her pragmatic strategies of position-taking, such as participation in sewing, engagement in social networks, and the embrace of hybrid cultural practices. The article argues that Nazneen’s transformation from a marginalized figure into an autonomous social actor in reference to Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus and capital. By combining close textual analysis with Bourdieusian theory, this study contributes to both literary criticism and sociological understandings of immigrant identity formation within structured fields of power.

Keywords

• Field
• capital
• habitus
• Bourdieu
• Brick Lane.

BOYUN EĞMEDEN ÖZ-İNŞAYA: BRİCK LANE’DE ALAN, HABİTUS VE SERMAYE

Abstract

Bu makale, Monica Ali’nin Brick Lane romanını edebiyat ile sosyal teori arasındaki kesişimde ele alarak esere Bourdieucu bir bakış getirir. Yakın okuma yönteminden yararlanan çalışma, Bourdieu’nün alan, habitus, sermaye ve sembolik şiddet kavramlarının, Nazneen’in Londra’daki Bangladeşli bir göçmen kadın olarak yaşadığı dönüşümü anlamada nasıl aydınlatıcı olduğunu gösterir. Romanın başında Nazneen, sınırlı ekonomik, kültürel ve sosyal kaynaklara sahip, ataerkil ve kapalı bir diasporik topluluğun parçasıdır. Ancak zamanla farklı biçimlerde sermaye biriktirerek —örneğin dikiş işine girmesi, kadın dayanışma ağlarına katılması ve yeni kültürel alışkanlıklar geliştirmesiyle— kendi habitus’unu Londra’daki toplumsal alana uyarlamayı öğrenir. Bu süreçte sembolik şiddet, onun hareket alanını daraltsa da, Nazneen’in konum alma biçimleri giderek daha bilinçli ve stratejik hâle gelir. Makale, bu dönüşümün sonunda Nazneen’in marjinal, sessiz bir figürden özerk ve etkin bir toplumsal özneye evrildiğini öne sürer. Böylece çalışma, Brick Lane’i hem edebî bir anlatı hem de göçmen kimliğinin güç ilişkileri içinde yeniden inşa edilme biçimlerini yansıtan sosyolojik bir metin olarak konumlandırır.

Keywords

• Alan
• sermaye
• habitus
• Bourdieu
• Brick Lane.

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