Ve erkekliğe ulaştığımda... Babamın başparmağını çiğnedim: Larry Gorman'ın halk şarkıları ve işçi sınıfı erkekliği

Abstract

Larry Gorman 1846'da Prens Edward Adasında doğdu ve 18 yaşından itibaren gerek New Brunswick gerekse Kuzey New England’a çalışmak için gidip gelmeye başladı. Bu yolculuklar hayatı boyunca devam etti ve yolculuklarla beraber şarkı yazma geleneğini de beraberinde getirdi. Gorman şarkılarını etrafındaki erkekleri eleştirmek, meydan okumak ve en nihayetinde, bu çalışmanın da ele aldığı gibi, patronlarının otoritesini sarsmak, işçilerin de gücü olduğunu göstermek için yazdı. Güncel halkbilimcilerden Edward D. Ives, Gorman’ın hayatı ve şarkıları hakkında bir belgesel hazırlarken, Gorman’ın hayatını toplumsal cinsiyet perspektifinden yorumlamadı. Bu çalışmanın yeni perspektifi, Ives tarafından toplanan sözlü tarihlerden yararlanarak işçi sınıfı erkekliğini vurgulamakta ve 19. Yüzyılın son yarısında işçilerin patronlarından gördükleri muameleye sessiz kalmadıklarını göstermektedir. Diğer tarihçilerin çoğu işçi sınıfı erkekliğini incelemiş olsa da, bir çok çalışma yalnızca mektuplar, günlükler ve gazeteleri içermektedir. Her ne kadar bu kaynaklarla ilgili hiç bir yanlışlık olmasa da, bu çalışmalar ardında ayrıntılı tarihsel bir iz bırakmamış olan işçileri birer özne olarak çalışmaların dışında bırakmıştır. Bazı tarihçiler şarkı ve erkeklik arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemişler ancak Larry Gorman’ın kanonunu çalışmalarına dahil etmemişlerdir. Bu çalışma, 19. Yüzyılın ikinci yarısındaki işçi sınıfı erkekliğini daha bütüncül bir şekilde anlamaya yardımcı olabilmek adına, Gorman’ın şarkılarını erkekliğin tarihsel tartışma zeminine taşımaktadır.

Keywords

• Larry Gorman,işçi sınıfı erkekliği,tarih

“And When I Arrived at Manhood…I Chewed My Father’s Thumb”: Working-Class Masculinity and the Folksongs of Larry Gorman

Abstract

Larry Gorman was born on Prince Edward Island in 1846, and by the time he was eighteen years old began traveling for employment to either New Brunswick or northern New England. These travels continued throughout his lifetime and with them he brought a tradition of making songs. Gorman used his songs to critique and challenge the men around him and ultimately, this paper argues, to challenge the authority of his bosses, demonstrating that wage earners could assert power in the work place. While the late folklorist Edward D. Ives has already worked to document Gorman's life and songs, he did not interpret them through a gendered lens. Drawing on the oral histories collected by Ives, this paper's new perspective highlights working-class masculinity and shows that wage laborers in the last half of the nineteenth century did not have to remain silent about poor treatment from their bosses. While other historians have examined working-class masculinity, many of their studies only consider letters, diaries, and newspaper articles. While there is nothing wrong with these sources they leave out subjects who have not left such detailed historical paper trails. Some historians have examined connections between song and masculinity, but the canon of Larry Gorman has been omitted. This paper adds Gorman's songs to the historical discussion of masculinity to help create a more complete understanding of working-class masculinity during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Keywords

• Larry Gorman,working-class masculinity

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