CARTOGRAPHIES OF BECOMING: HYBRIDITY, DETERRITORIALIZATION AND IDENTITY IN THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA

Abstract

Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) subverts the traditional Bildungsroman by rejecting linear self-actualization in favor of an identity formation process marked by hybridity, deterritorialization, and perpetual becoming. Through the protagonist Karim’s negotiation of racial, cultural, and sexual subjectivity within 1970s Britain, the novel illustrates the fragmented, fluid, and performative nature of postcolonial identity. Engaging with postmodern and postcolonial frameworks—such as Homi Bhabha’s Third Space, Stuart Hall’s positional identities, and Deleuze and Guattari’s rhizomatic subjectivity—this study explores how the novel destabilizes essentialist categories of selfhood, favoring instead a dynamic interplay of cultural multiplicity, mimicry, and dislocation. By incorporating Mikhail Bakhtin’s heteroglossia and Michel Foucault’s critique of disciplinary power, the analysis highlights how Kureishi’s narrative resists hegemonic inscriptions of identity, embracing instead a decentered, polyphonic mode of self-construction. Karim’s journey, marked by irony, performativity, and non-linear development, underscores the postmodern deconstruction of subjectivity.

Keywords

• Hybridity
• deterritorialization
• rhizomatic subjectivity
• heteroglossia
• identity

OLUŞUN KARTOGRAFYALARI: THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA’DA MELEZLİK, YERSİZYURTSUZLAŞMA VE KİMLİK

Abstract

Hanif Kureishi’nin The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) adlı romanı, melezlik, yersizyurtsuzlaşma ve sürekli oluşun damgasını vurduğu bir kimlik oluşum süreci bakımından doğrusal kendini gerçekleştirmeyi reddederek geleneksel Bildungsroman’ı altüst eder. Roman; başkahraman Karim’in 1970’lerin Britanya’sında ırksal, kültürel ve cinsel öznelliği müzakere etmesi aracılığıyla postkolonyal kimliğin parçalı, akışkan ve performatif doğasını göstermektedir. Homi Bhabha’nın Üçüncü Alan’ı, Stuart Hall’un konumsal kimlikleri ve Deleuze ve Guattari’nin rizomatik öznelliği gibi postmodern ve postkolonyal çerçevelerle etkileşime giren bu çalışma, romanın özcü benlik kategorilerini nasıl istikrarsızlaştırdığını, bunun yerine kültürel çokluk, taklit ve yerinden edilmenin dinamik bir etkileşimini nasıl desteklediğini incelemektedir. Mikhail Bakhtin’in “heteroglossia”sını ve Michel Foucault’nun disipliner iktidar eleştirisini birleştiren analiz, Kureishi’nin anlatısının hegemonik kimlik yazılarına nasıl direndiğini, bunun yerine merkezsiz, çok sesli bir benlik inşası tarzını nasıl benimsediğini vurgulamaktadır. Karim’in ironi, performatiflik ve doğrusal olmayan gelişimle vurgulanan yolculuğu, kimliğin sabit bir son nokta olmadığını tartışmaktadır.

Keywords

• Melezlik
• yersizyurtsuzlaşma
• rizomatik öznellik
• heteroglossia
• kimlik

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