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

Year 2017, Issue: 7, 4 - 26, 15.02.2017

İan J. Jesse

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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