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AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION

Year 2021, Issue: 43, 107 - 116, 23.03.2021
https://doi.org/10.30794/pausbed.687321

Abstract

Ruth Ozeki is a prominent Japanese - American contemporary novelist who addresses patriarchy, race, and the environment in her works. Ozeki’s second novel All Over Creation focuses on the encounters between human and non-human nature. She presents an issue of great concern, namely genetically modified food, alongside issues pertaining to reproduction, racial discrimination, and capitalist agribusiness. This paper analyzes All Over Creation using material feminist theory which advocates that both human and non-human bodies are not passive and empty; rather, they are beings with their own needs, claims, and actions. By discussing similar encounters between human and non-human nature in terms of reproduction, the paper analyzes the loss of body agency of both potatoes and women under the control of anthropocentrism and patriarchy. By drawing an analogy between potatoes and women, Ozeki expresses her criticism of the deep-seated anthropocentrism and patriarchy and appeales to the emancipation of both potatoes’ and women’s bodies.

References

  • Agostino, A., Ashton, G. (2006). A Patentent World? Privatisation of Life and Knowledge. Johannesburg: Fanele.
  • Alaimo, S. (2010). Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, And the Material Self. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
  • Alaimo S., Hekman, S. (2008). Material Feminisms. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
  • Balsmeier, P. (2019). “Towards a Posthumanist Conceptualization of Society: Biotechnology in Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy and Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation”. Representations of Science in Twenty-First-Century Fiction. (Eds.) Nina Engelhart and Julia Hoydis. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 93-112.
  • Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
  • Ozeki, R. (2004). All Over Creation. London: Penguin Books.
  • Parrinello, A. (2019). “Literary Eco-Resistance: Feminist Sustainable Practises in Margaret Atwood and Ruth Ozeki”. Master’s Degree in European, American and Postcolonial Language and Literature. Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
  • Rouyan, A. (2015). “Radical Acts of Cultivation: Ecological Utopianism and Genetically Modified Organisms in Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation”. Utopian Studies, (26), 1, pp. 143-159.
  • Stein, R. (2010) “Bad Seed: Imperiled Biological and Social Diversity in Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation”. Postcolonial Green: Environmental Politics and World Narratives. (Eds.) Bonnie Roos and Alex Hunt.Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, pp. 177-196.
  • Törnberg, A. (2013). “Resistance Matter(s). Resistance Studies and the Material Turn”. Resistance Studies Magazine.

BEDENLERİN EYLEYİCİLİĞİ: RUTH OZEKI’NIN ALL OVER CREATION ROMANINDA MADDESELLİK

Year 2021, Issue: 43, 107 - 116, 23.03.2021
https://doi.org/10.30794/pausbed.687321

Abstract

Japon kökenli Amerikalı yazar Ruth Ozeki, ataerkillik, ırk ve çevre gibi sorunlara odaklanan eserleriyle bilinmektedir. Ozeki’nin ikinci romanı All Over Creation insan ve insan olmayan doğa arasındaki karşılaşmalara odaklanmaktadır. Ozeki bu eserinde genetiği değiştirilmiş gıdaların yanı sıra, üreme, ırksal ayrımcılık ve kapitalist endüstriyel tarım ile ilgili endişelerini dile getirmektedir. Bu makale All Over Creation romanını insan ve insan olmayan bedenlerin pasif ve boş olmadığını; bedenlerin kendi ihtiyaçları, istemleri ve eyleyiciliği olduğunu savunan maddeci feminist teoriyi kullanarak incelemektedir. İnsan ve insan olmayan doğalar arasındaki benzer karşılaşmaları üreme açısından tartışan bu makale, antroposentrizm ve ataerkillik kontrolü altındaki patateslerin ve kadın bedenlerinin kaybolan eyleyiciliğini incelemektedir. Ozeki, patatesler ve kadınlar arasında benzetme yaparak, kökleşmiş antroposentrizm ve ataerkilliğe yönelik eleştirilerini ifade etmekte ve patateslerin ve kadın bedenlerinin özgürleşmesini dillendirmektedir.

References

  • Agostino, A., Ashton, G. (2006). A Patentent World? Privatisation of Life and Knowledge. Johannesburg: Fanele.
  • Alaimo, S. (2010). Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, And the Material Self. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
  • Alaimo S., Hekman, S. (2008). Material Feminisms. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
  • Balsmeier, P. (2019). “Towards a Posthumanist Conceptualization of Society: Biotechnology in Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy and Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation”. Representations of Science in Twenty-First-Century Fiction. (Eds.) Nina Engelhart and Julia Hoydis. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 93-112.
  • Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
  • Ozeki, R. (2004). All Over Creation. London: Penguin Books.
  • Parrinello, A. (2019). “Literary Eco-Resistance: Feminist Sustainable Practises in Margaret Atwood and Ruth Ozeki”. Master’s Degree in European, American and Postcolonial Language and Literature. Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
  • Rouyan, A. (2015). “Radical Acts of Cultivation: Ecological Utopianism and Genetically Modified Organisms in Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation”. Utopian Studies, (26), 1, pp. 143-159.
  • Stein, R. (2010) “Bad Seed: Imperiled Biological and Social Diversity in Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation”. Postcolonial Green: Environmental Politics and World Narratives. (Eds.) Bonnie Roos and Alex Hunt.Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, pp. 177-196.
  • Törnberg, A. (2013). “Resistance Matter(s). Resistance Studies and the Material Turn”. Resistance Studies Magazine.
There are 10 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Creative Arts and Writing
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Barış Ağır 0000-0002-7132-5844

Publication Date March 23, 2021
Acceptance Date August 20, 2020
Published in Issue Year 2021 Issue: 43

Cite

APA Ağır, B. (2021). AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi(43), 107-116. https://doi.org/10.30794/pausbed.687321
AMA Ağır B. AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION. PAUSBED. March 2021;(43):107-116. doi:10.30794/pausbed.687321
Chicago Ağır, Barış. “AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION”. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, no. 43 (March 2021): 107-16. https://doi.org/10.30794/pausbed.687321.
EndNote Ağır B (March 1, 2021) AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 43 107–116.
IEEE B. Ağır, “AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION”, PAUSBED, no. 43, pp. 107–116, March 2021, doi: 10.30794/pausbed.687321.
ISNAD Ağır, Barış. “AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION”. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 43 (March 2021), 107-116. https://doi.org/10.30794/pausbed.687321.
JAMA Ağır B. AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION. PAUSBED. 2021;:107–116.
MLA Ağır, Barış. “AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION”. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, no. 43, 2021, pp. 107-16, doi:10.30794/pausbed.687321.
Vancouver Ağır B. AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION. PAUSBED. 2021(43):107-16.