Abstract
Since the late twentieth and early
twenty-first centuries, the idea of immigrant identity has been re-evaluated
and problematized with the rise of a diasporic questioning of territorial
roots, cultural differences and pre-determined borders. Essentializing point of
view in the field of post-colonial studies, which is used to define centre/periphery,
belonging/nonbelonging, nation/diaspora and self/other, has highlighted the
identity formation of immigrants as a linear process in which non-Western
European immigrants reconstruct their identities as citizens of the First
World. Hinged on the idea that any category or group needs borders that may be physical,
illusory, or metaphorical, in order to define and distinguish itself and its
difference from the others (these may be body borders, nation borders, or
racial and ethnic borders), one of the common themes of such an approach is to
display firm national and ethnic boundaries set by colonial and neo-colonial
practices, and to analyse representations of newcomers within the dominant
discourse as outsiders or aliens. Categorical borders and social meanings
attributed to those groups, consciously and unconsciously, shape structural
features of othering. Kureishi’s magnum opus, The Buddha of Suburbia, a significant immigrant novel, deals with
the verbal and physical consequences of othering and racism through the
protagonist, Karim, his family and friends. This paper aims to explore the idea
of otherization in The Buddha of Suburbia,
and how Western discourse tries to construct a stable marginalized immigrant
identity through appropriating and assimilating the other as a part of European
ethnocentrism.
References
- Ambursley, U. (2006). The Search for Identity in Anita and Me and The Buddha of Suburbia. Extended Essays. Unpublished Dissertation.Bhabha, H. (1983). The Other Question…. Screen, Volume 24, Issue 6, 1 November.
- Blumer, H. (1958) Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position. The Pacific Sociological Review 1, no. 1 doi:10.2307/1388607.
- Buchowski, M. (2006). The Specter of Orientalism in Europe: From Exotic Other to Stigmatized Brother. Anthropological Quarterly. Vol.79. No. 3.
- Cornea, C. (2010). Stereotypes in Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia. Criterion. Vol. I. Issue III.
- Fanon, F. (1952). Black Skin, White Masks. Get Political: London.
- Fassin, D. (2001). The Biopolitics of Otherness: Undocumented Foreigners and Racial Discrimination in French Public Debate. Anthropology Today. Vol. 17. No.1 Felsenstein, F. (1995). Anti-Semitic Stereotypes: A Paradigm of Otherness in English Popular Culture. John Hopkins University Press: USA.
- Hashmi, A. (1992). Hanif Kureishi and the Tradition of the Novel. The International Fiction Review. Vol: 19. No: 2.
- Kivel, P. (2006). Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. New Society Publishers; Canada.
- Kumaravadivelu, B. (2008). Cultural Globalization and Language Education.Yale UP: USA.
- Kureishi, H. (1986). The Rainbow Sign. My Beautiful Laundrette. Faber and Faber: London.
- Kureishi, H. (1990). The Buddha of Suburbia. Faber and Faber: London.
- Nelson, T. Critical Topics in Family Therapy: AFTA Monograph Series Highlights. Springer Cham: New Jersey.
- Okuroglu Ozun, S. (2017). Disrupted Borders in The Buddha of Suburbia. B/orders Unbound: Marginality, Ethnicity and Identity in Literatures. Peterlang: Germany.
- Onmus, S. (2012). Hybrid Identities in The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Unpublished Thesis, Ankara.
- Persson, S. (2010). The Individual and the Collective: A Discussion of Identity and Individualism. Global. Volume 5, 5, December 11.
- Phelan, J. (1999). The Lessons of ‘Weymouth’: Homodiegesis, Unreliability, Ethics, and The Remains of the Day. Narratologies: New Perspectives on Narrative Analysis. Columbus: Ohio State UP.
- Powell J. and Menendian S. (2016). The Problem of Othering john a. powell & Stephen Menendian.Othering & Belonging: Expanding the Circle of Human Concern. Issue 1, Summer.
- Pyke, K. D. (2010). What is Internalized Racial Oppression and Why Don't We Study it? Acknowledging Racism's Hidden Injuries. Sociological Perspectives Vol. 53, No. 4, pp. 551-572.
- Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Penguin.
- Yang, G et al. (2006). The Essence, Characteristics and Limitation of Post-Colonialism: From Karl Marx's Point of View. Frontiers of Philosophy in China. Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jun., 2006), pp. 279-294
- Yucheng, L. (1996) Expropriating the Authentic: The Cultural Politics in Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia. Euramerica Vol: 26. No: 23.
Abstract
Yirminci yüzyılın sonları ve yirmi birinci yüzyılın başından
itibaren, göçmen kimliği fikri, diasporaların kişinin kökeninin dayandığı
topraklarla olan bağlarını, kültürel farklılıkları ve peşinen belirlenmiş
sınırları sorgulamaya başlamasıyla göçmen kimliği fikri yeniden irdelenmiş ve
sorunsal bir hal almıştır. Postkolonyal çalışmalarda merkez/çevre, aidiyet/ait
olmama, ulus/diaspora ve ben/öteki gibi tanımları yapabilmek için kullanılan
özdeşleştirici bakış açısı; Avrupa’ya yerleşen Batılı olmayan göçmenlerin
kimlik inşa sürecini, kimliklerini Birinci Dünya vatandaşı olarak yeniden inşa
ettikleri doğrusal bir süreç olarak ortaya koymuştur.Her kategorinin veya
grubun gerçek, hayali veya metaforik sınırlara (bu sınırlar bedensel, ulusal
veya ırk ve etnisite temelli sınırlar olabilir), kendini ötekilerden ayırt
etmek adına ihtiyaç duyduğu fikrinden hareketle; bu yaklaşımın en yaygın
temalarından biri, kolonyal ve neo-kolonyal deneyimlerin belirlediği katı
ulusal ve etnik sınırlar sergilemek ve göçmenlerin baskın söylem içerisinde
yabancı olarak tasvir edildiği temsilleri incelemektir. Kategorisel sınırlar ve
bu gruplara atfedilen sosyal anlamlar, bilinçli ve bilinçsiz olarak
ötekileştirmenin yapısal niteliklerini şekillendirmektedir. Kureishi’nin
başyapıtı olan Varoşların Buda’sı (The Buddha of Suburbia) ana karakter
Karim, onun ailesi ve arkadaşları aracılığıyla ötekileştirme ve ırkçılığın
sözel ve fiziksel sonuçlarını irdeleyen önemli göçmen romanlarından bir
tanesidir. Kureishi, Karim ve ait olduğu diaspora topluluğunun, ana akım
Britanya toplumu içerisinde aynı anda nasıl hem bu toplumun bir parçası hem de
yabancı olduklarını gözler önüne seriyor. Bu çalışma; Varoşların Buda’sındaki ötekileştirme fikrini ve Batılı söylemin
‘öteki’yi Avrupalı etnomerkezciliğin bir parçası olarak asimile ederek sabit ve
ötekileştirilmiş bir göçmen kimliği inşa etme çabasını irdelemektir.
References
- Ambursley, U. (2006). The Search for Identity in Anita and Me and The Buddha of Suburbia. Extended Essays. Unpublished Dissertation.Bhabha, H. (1983). The Other Question…. Screen, Volume 24, Issue 6, 1 November.
- Blumer, H. (1958) Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position. The Pacific Sociological Review 1, no. 1 doi:10.2307/1388607.
- Buchowski, M. (2006). The Specter of Orientalism in Europe: From Exotic Other to Stigmatized Brother. Anthropological Quarterly. Vol.79. No. 3.
- Cornea, C. (2010). Stereotypes in Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia. Criterion. Vol. I. Issue III.
- Fanon, F. (1952). Black Skin, White Masks. Get Political: London.
- Fassin, D. (2001). The Biopolitics of Otherness: Undocumented Foreigners and Racial Discrimination in French Public Debate. Anthropology Today. Vol. 17. No.1 Felsenstein, F. (1995). Anti-Semitic Stereotypes: A Paradigm of Otherness in English Popular Culture. John Hopkins University Press: USA.
- Hashmi, A. (1992). Hanif Kureishi and the Tradition of the Novel. The International Fiction Review. Vol: 19. No: 2.
- Kivel, P. (2006). Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. New Society Publishers; Canada.
- Kumaravadivelu, B. (2008). Cultural Globalization and Language Education.Yale UP: USA.
- Kureishi, H. (1986). The Rainbow Sign. My Beautiful Laundrette. Faber and Faber: London.
- Kureishi, H. (1990). The Buddha of Suburbia. Faber and Faber: London.
- Nelson, T. Critical Topics in Family Therapy: AFTA Monograph Series Highlights. Springer Cham: New Jersey.
- Okuroglu Ozun, S. (2017). Disrupted Borders in The Buddha of Suburbia. B/orders Unbound: Marginality, Ethnicity and Identity in Literatures. Peterlang: Germany.
- Onmus, S. (2012). Hybrid Identities in The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Unpublished Thesis, Ankara.
- Persson, S. (2010). The Individual and the Collective: A Discussion of Identity and Individualism. Global. Volume 5, 5, December 11.
- Phelan, J. (1999). The Lessons of ‘Weymouth’: Homodiegesis, Unreliability, Ethics, and The Remains of the Day. Narratologies: New Perspectives on Narrative Analysis. Columbus: Ohio State UP.
- Powell J. and Menendian S. (2016). The Problem of Othering john a. powell & Stephen Menendian.Othering & Belonging: Expanding the Circle of Human Concern. Issue 1, Summer.
- Pyke, K. D. (2010). What is Internalized Racial Oppression and Why Don't We Study it? Acknowledging Racism's Hidden Injuries. Sociological Perspectives Vol. 53, No. 4, pp. 551-572.
- Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Penguin.
- Yang, G et al. (2006). The Essence, Characteristics and Limitation of Post-Colonialism: From Karl Marx's Point of View. Frontiers of Philosophy in China. Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jun., 2006), pp. 279-294
- Yucheng, L. (1996) Expropriating the Authentic: The Cultural Politics in Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia. Euramerica Vol: 26. No: 23.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal Section | Research Article |
| Authors | |
| Publication Date | October 15, 2019 |
| Submission Date | April 4, 2019 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2019 |
Cite
MANAS Journal of Social Studies (MANAS Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi)