SÖMÜRGE ÇİFTLİĞİ NOSTALJİSİ: CYNTHIA SHEARER’IN THE CELESTIAL JUKEBOX ADLI ESERİNDE GÖÇ, EMEK, KUMARHANE İŞLETMESİ VE TARİHSEL TRAVMA

Year 2017, Issue: 37, 207 - 224, 22.06.2017

Hüseyin Altındiş

https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.328408

Abstract

Son
zamanlarda araştırmacılar edebiyatta göçmen işçi sorunsalına, özellikle de ABD
Güney edebiyatında, oldukça yoğun bir ilgi göstermişlerdir. Bu çalışmalar Güney
edebiyatında işçi sömürüsü ve iş şartları konusunda yoğunlaşmıştır. ABD’nin
güney bölgesi Amerikan tecrübesinde emek ve işçi tarihi açısından bir istisna
oluşturmaktadır çünkü bölge çok sayıda göçmen çekmekte ve bu göçmenler bölgenin
ırk, sosyal ve ekonomik ilişkilerini değiştirmiş ve değiştirmeye devam
etmektedir. Bugün göçmenler ve göçmen işçi sorunu popüler medyada,
politikacılar ve bilim insanları arasında en tartışmalı konular arasında yer
almaktadır. Bu tartışmalar sadece bu bölgeye özgün değildir ancak tarihi
geçmişi, coğrafi konumu ve köleliği yaşayan bir anı olarak yeniden canlandırma
arzusu nedeniyle, Güney, küresel bağlantıları göz önünde bulundurulunca, iş ve
göçmen işçi tartışmalarında çok önemli bir yer teşkil etmektedir. The Celestial Jukebox (2005) adlı eserinde, Güneyli yazar
Cynthia Shearer tarihsel süreciyle bağlantılı olarak işçi sömürüsünü
eleştirmekte ve göçmenleri ülkeye zenginlik katacak kültürel çeşitlilik unsuru
olarak görme eğilimindedir. Bu bağlamda, bu makalede  Shearer’ın The Celestial Jukebox adlı eserinde mevcut evrensel kapitalizmin,
kölelik ekonomisini sürdürme eğiliminde olan kumarhane işletmesinin, tarihi
geçmişi olan emek sömürüsününün ve iş travmasının incelenmesi hedeflenmektedir.

Keywords

Sömürge çiftlikleri, nostalji, sömürü, kölelik ekonomisi

PLANTATION NOSTALGIA: IMMIGRATION, LABOR, CASINO INDUSTRY, AND HISTORICAL TRAUMA IN CYNTHIA SHEARER’S THE CELESTIAL JUKEBOX

Abstract

Recently, scholars have devoted considerable attention
to the study of labor in literature, and specifically in the literature of the
U.S. South due to the region’s global connections and complicated history.
These studies have given insights into material conditions and exploitation of
labor in southern spaces. The South has been an exception to the American
experience with its exceptional history of labor, as the region has attracted
many immigrants to a labor force that shaped and continues to shape the racial,
social, and economic relations in the region. Immigration and immigrant labor
are some of the most controversial and popular discussion topics among mass
media, politicians, and scholars today. These discussions are not region
specific; yet due to its historical background, geographical location, and
reconstructing plantation as a living memory, the U.S. South has a profound
role in labor and immigration debates as one of the most prominent regions with
deep-rooted global connections. Cynthia Shearer in her novel The Celestial Jukebox (2005)
problematizes and challenges the idea of labor exploitation through historical
contexts and tends to portray immigrants within the framework of cultural
diversity and richness with liberal ideas of multiculturalism that acknowledge
cultural differences contributing to the cultural diversity of the region. In
this vein, this paper attempts to discuss the current condition of global
capitalism, casino industry, immigrant labor, the role of historically rooted
labor exploitation, and labor trauma in Cynthia Shearer’s The Celestial Jukebox.

Keywords

Plantation, nostalgia, exploitation, capitalism, slavery economy

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