Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Vaster than Empires and More Slow” Eserinde Ekolojik Posthümanizm

Year 2026, Volume: 11 Issue: 1, 104 - 121, 26.03.2026

Derya Biderci Dinç

https://doi.org/10.29110/soylemdergi.1853269

https://izlik.org/JA25BY26YL

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Ursula Le Guin’in “Vaster than Empires and More Slow” (1971) başlıklı spekülatif kurgu eserini, ekolojik posthümanizm bağlamında posthümanist bir okuma çerçevesinde incelemektedir. Çalışma, hikayeyi posthüman varoluş durumu ve insan-dışı ile ilişkisel birliktelik üzerine spekülatif bir düşünüm olarak ele alınmaktadır. Ekolojik posthümanist kuramsal çerçeve; ekolojik karşılıklı bağlılığı, insan-dışı etki biçimlerini ve dönüşüme uğramış öznelik anlayışlarını görünür kılarak antroposantrik anlatıları sorgulaır. Karen Barad’ın iç-ilişkisel edim kavramı ile Stacy Alaimo’nun bedenler arası geçişkenlik gibi temel yaklaşımından hareketle bu makale, Le Guin’in spekülatif kurgusunun insan–doğa ikiliğini nasıl istikrarsızlaştırdığını ve insan kâşifler ile karşılaştıkları duyarlı orman arasındaki ilişkiyi nasıl yeniden yapılandırdığını incelemektedir. Bu bağlamda, zekâ, duygulanım ve birlikte-oluşum, ekolojik ilişkilenmenin temel kipleri olarak öne çıkarılmaktadır. Analiz, özellikle öyküdeki gezegensel bilinç temsiline ve sözel dile dayanmayan iletişim biçimlerine odaklanmakta; bu unsurların insan istisnacılığına ve sözel dilin tahakkümüne yönelik eleştirel bir işlev üstlendiğini ortaya koymaktadır. Gezegensel bilincin bu temsili, nihayetinde, dolaşıklık ve birlikte-kuruluş temelinde şekillenen posthüman bir ontolojiyi yansıtmaktadır. Çalışma, Le Guin’in anlatısının yalnızca antroposantrizmi eleştirmekle kalmadığını, aynı zamanda karşılıklı ilişkiler ve paylaşılan varoluş temelinde kurgulanan ekolojik gelecekleri yeniden düşünmeye imkân tanıdığını ortaya çıkarır.

Keywords

ekolojik posthümanizm , spekülatif kurgu , Ursula Le Guin , insan-merkezcilik , iç-ilişkisel edim

Ecological Posthumanism in “Vaster than Empires and More Slow” by Ursula K. Le Guin

https://izlik.org/JA25BY26YL

Abstract

This study presents a posthumanist reading of Ursula Le Guin’s speculative fiction “Vaster than Empires and More Slow” (1971) by situating it within current debates on ecological posthumanism. It approaches the story as a speculative meditation on the posthuman condition of being and more-than-human relationality. Ecological posthumanist framework challenges anthropocentric narratives by foregrounding ecological interconnectedness, nonhuman agency, and transformed subjectivities. Drawing on key concepts such as intra-action by Karen Barad and trans-corporality by Stacy Alaimo, the article explores how Le Guin’s speculative fiction blurs the boundary between human and nature, and reconfigures the relationship between human explorers and the sentient forest they encounter. The analysis focuses on the story’s representation of planetary awareness, in which sensitivity, agency, and cognition are presented as distributed across human and nonhuman actants. Le Guin destabilises the binary division between huma and nonhuman and undermines human exceptionalism. In this context, cognition, affect, and co-constitution come up as a fundamental form of ecological relationality. The depiction of planetary awareness ultimately reflects a posthuman ontology grounded in entanglement and co-constitution. This study reveals that Le Guin’s narrative not only critiques anthropocentrism but also reimagines ecological futures grounded in relationality and shared becoming.

Keywords

ecological posthumanism , speculative fiction , Ursula Le Guin , anthropocentrism , intra-action

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