THE STRATEGIC USE OF POSITIVIST ORIENTALISM IN AHDAF SOUEIF’S THE MAP OF LOVE

Year 2019, , 102 - 126, 31.07.2019

Ayşe Çırçır

https://doi.org/10.33406/molesto.557516

Abstract

Ahdaf Soueif presents the difficult task of facing the Orientalist discourse in her tour de force The Map of Love(1999) and structures it on the strategic use of positivist Orientalism which produces an interesting novelistic outcome. Soueif subverts this violent discourse with a formative attention to, in Edward Said’s words, its paradigms of research and explores colonialism and imperialism through strategic Orientalism. Paradoxically, academic Orientalism becomes an important source of linguistic, historical and cultural transmission in The Map of Loveand Soueif articulates a heightened concern for history with this critical concept with which she explores transnational circuits of power and female empowerment. Soueif’s strategic use of Orientalism reiterates visions of inclusivity and ambivalence as the defining characteristics of her contemporary hybrid females for she upholds travels between languages, continents and centuries and her hybrid characters produce and process histories which become both national epics and Oriental romances in retellings.

Keywords

Ahdaf Soueif, Edward Said, Strategic Orientalism, Post-Colonialism

AHDAF SOUEIF’İN THE MAP OF LOVE ADLI YAPITINDA POZİTİVİST ŞARKİYATÇILIĞIN STRATEJİK KULLANIMI

Abstract

Ahdaf Soueif başarılı yapıtı The Map of Love’da (1999) Şarkiyatçılık’la yüzleşmenin zorluğunu sunar ve romanı pozitivist Şarkiyatçılık’ın stratejik kullanımı üzerine kurgular. Bu durum roman yazınına ait ilginç bir sonuç doğurmuştur. Soueif bu şiddet dolu söylemi, Edward Said’in deyimiyle araştırma paradigmalarına biçimlendirici bir duyarlılıkla bakarak bozar ve stratejik Şarkiyatçılık üzerinden sömürgecilik ve yayılımcılığı inceler. Eserde, akademik Şarkiyatçılık çelişkili bir şekilde önemli bir kültür, tarih ve dilbilimsel iletişim kaynağı olur. Soueif bu eleştirel kavramla yoğun tarih kaygısını dile getirir ve uluslararası güç halkaları ve kadın öznenin güçlendirilmesi konularına değinir. Soueif, Şarkiyatçılık’ı stratejik olarak kullanarak diller, kıtalar ve yüzyıllar arası seyahatin önemini vurgular ve çağdaş kadın melez karakterlerinin tanımlayıcı özellikleri olarak dahil olma hayali ve duygu ikileminin altını çizer. Bu melez karakterler, yeniden anlatımlarla hem ulusal destanlara hem doğuya özgü aşk hikâyelerine dönüşen tarihleri üretir ve işler. 

Keywords

Ahdaf Soueif, Edward Said, Stratejik Şarkiyatçılık, Sömürge Sonrası Söylem

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