Hayat kadınlığına giden yol: Ngugi’nin Wanja’sı ve Ekwensi’nin Jagua Nana'sı

Öz

Her birey, hayatının belli dönemlerinde kaderini/geleceğini önemli derece etkileyecek kararlar almak zorunda kalır. Bu kararlarını kimi zaman kendi içinden gelen istekler doğrultusunda alır kimi zaman da dış faktörler yüzünden ve kendi arzusu dışında almak zorunda kalır. Bu çalışmaya konu olan Kenyalı yazar Ngugi wa Thiong’o’nun Wanja karakteri ve Nijeryalı yazar Cyprian Ekwensi’nin Jagua Nana’sı da ahir hayatlarının seyrini değiştirecek kararlar alır ve hayatlarını hayat kadınlığı ile sürdürmeye başlarlar. Her iki karakterin meslek seçimindeki nedenleri birbirinden farklı olsa da yapmak istedikleri/zorunda kaldıkları meslek aynıdır. Genel olarak çoğu bölgede, toplumun ahlaki kodlarına, inançlarına ve yaşam tarzlarına uygun bulunmayan hayat kadınlığı günümüz Kenya ve Nijerya’sında profesyonel ve sistematik bir şekilde yapılmaktadır. Bir iş haline gelen ve genelde ekonomik temelli nedenler yüzünden tercih edilen hayat kadınlığı hatta bir turizm sektörü haline gelmiştir. Bunun arkasındaki en büyük etken, Afrika kıtasını ciddi şekilde etkileyen ve bölge halkının hayatlarında derin izler bırakan sömürgecilik geçmişidir. Dolayısıyla, bu unsurlar ışığında Wanja ve Jagua Nana'nın tercihleri incelenirken, bu tür seçimleri tetikleyen arka plan güçleri olduğu için, sömürülen topraklardaki kadınların durumu, sömürgeciliğin bu yerli kadınları nasıl etkilediği ve sömürgecilik ile hayat kadınlığı arasındaki ilişki de bu çalışmada incelenecektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Wanja
• Jagua Nana
• Afrikalı Kadın
• Hayat Kadınlığı

The road to prostitution: Ngugi’s Wanja and Ekwensi’s Jagua Nana

Abstract

Every individual has to make decisions that will significantly affect their destinies/futures at certain periods of their lives. Sometimes they take these decisions in line with their own wishes, and sometimes have to take it because of external factors and against their own wills. Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Wanja and Nigerian writer Cyprian Ekwensi’s Jagua Nana, who are the subject of this study, also make decisions that will change the course of their lives in the end and they begin to live by means of prostitution. Both characters choose this profession for separate purposes/reasons, however, the profession they want/have to do is the same. In general, prostitution, which is perceived as inappropriate for the moral codes, beliefs and lifestyles of the society in most regions, is carried out professionally and systematically in today’s Kenya and Nigeria. Prostitution, mostly preferred for economic reasons, has even become a tourism sector. The major factor behind is the colonial past, which seriously affected the African continent and left deep scars in the lives of the people living in the region. Therefore, in the light of these elements, while examining the preferences of Wanja and Jagua Nana, the condition of women in the colonized lands, how colonialism affected these native women as well as the relationship between colonialism and prostitution will also be examined in this study for they are the background forces that have triggered such choices.

Keywords

• Wanja
• Jagua Nana
• African Woman
• Prostitution

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