Abstract
Karen von Blixen-Finecke (1885-1962) ya da diğer ismi ile Isak
Dinesen’in Out of Africa (1937) romanı
gençliğinde Kenya’da bir kahve çiftliği kurarak sömürgeci bir yerleşmeci olarak
geçirdiği hayatının bir belgesidir. Birinci şahıs anlatımıyla yazılan roman,
kendisinin Kenya’da çiftlik sahibi olarak kazandığı on yedi yıllık deneyimi,
Afrika insanını ve coğrafyasını anlatır. İçeriği ve anlatıcı-başkahramanı Out of Africa’yı sırasıyla hem sömürge
sonrası hem de otobiyografik analiz için uygun kılsa da, bu çalışma anlatıcı-başkahramanı
sömürgecilik sonrası çerçevede bir kadın sömürgeci olarak ele alır. Blixen’in
romanı bir anı niteliği taşısa da, egzotik ve romantik bir Afrika görüntüsü
sunarken söylemsel sömürgecilikten kaçınamaz. Yerli halka yardım ettiği
zamanlarda hissettiği üstünlük duygusunu saklayamaz. Kenya’da işleyen sömürge
sisteminden memnun görünmese de, sistemi değiştirmek için harekete geçmez. Bu nedenle,
bu makale Karen Blixen’in Kenya’daki varlığını bir sömürgeci olarak kabul
ettiğini ve sömürgecilik sürecini doğal bir olgu olarak varsaydığı sonucuna ulaşır.
References
- Brantly, Susan C. (2002). Understanding Isak Dinesen. Columbia: U of South Carolina P.
- Césaire, Aimé. (2002). Discourse on Colonialism. Trans. Joan Pinkham. 1955. New York: Monthly Review P.
- Dinesen, Isak. (1992). Out of Africa. New York: The Modern Library.
- Gagiano, Annie. (1995). “Blixen, Ngugi: Recounting Kenya.” Ngugi wa Thiong’o: Texts and Contexts. Ed. Charles Cantalupo. New Jersey: African World P, pp. 95-110.
- Hannah, Donald. (1971). ‘Isak Dinesen’ and Karen Blixen: The Mask and the Reality. London: Putnam.
- Kipling, Rudyard. (2015). “The White Man’s Burden.” Victorian Literature: An Anthology. Ed. Victor Shea and William Whitla. Malden: Blackwell, pp 924-925.
- Mohanty, Chandra, T. (2003). Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham and London: Duke University P.
- Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. (1981). Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary. Exeter: Heineman Educational Books.
- ---. (1993). Moving the Center: The Struggle for Cultural Freedom. London: James Currey.
Abstract
Karen von Blixen-Finecke (1885-1962) aka Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa (1937) is a document of her life as a colonial
settler in Kenya where she establishes a coffee plantation in her prime. The
novel, written through first person narration, recounts her
seventeen-year-experience in Kenya as a plantation owner in which she describes
the African population and landscape at length. Even though its content and its
narrator-protagonist respectively render Out
of Africa suitable for both postcolonial and autobiographical analysis, the
present study examines the narrator-protagonist as the female colonizer within
postcolonial framework. Much as Blixen’s novel is a memoir, she cannot avoid discursive
colonization because she presents an exotic and romanticised view of Africa. When
she helps the natives, she cannot hide her feeling of superiority. Even though
she does not seem content with the colonial system running in Kenya, she does
not take action to change the system. Therefore, this paper concludes that
Karen Blixen acknowledges her presence in Kenya as a colonizer and regards the colonization
process as a natural phenomenon.
References
- Brantly, Susan C. (2002). Understanding Isak Dinesen. Columbia: U of South Carolina P.
- Césaire, Aimé. (2002). Discourse on Colonialism. Trans. Joan Pinkham. 1955. New York: Monthly Review P.
- Dinesen, Isak. (1992). Out of Africa. New York: The Modern Library.
- Gagiano, Annie. (1995). “Blixen, Ngugi: Recounting Kenya.” Ngugi wa Thiong’o: Texts and Contexts. Ed. Charles Cantalupo. New Jersey: African World P, pp. 95-110.
- Hannah, Donald. (1971). ‘Isak Dinesen’ and Karen Blixen: The Mask and the Reality. London: Putnam.
- Kipling, Rudyard. (2015). “The White Man’s Burden.” Victorian Literature: An Anthology. Ed. Victor Shea and William Whitla. Malden: Blackwell, pp 924-925.
- Mohanty, Chandra, T. (2003). Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham and London: Duke University P.
- Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. (1981). Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary. Exeter: Heineman Educational Books.
- ---. (1993). Moving the Center: The Struggle for Cultural Freedom. London: James Currey.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal Section | Uluslararası Toplumsal Bilimler Dergisi Cilt 4 Sayı 1 |
| Authors | |
| Early Pub Date | May 22, 2020 |
| Publication Date | May 22, 2020 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2020 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 |