Dehumanisation of Colonised Humans Revisited: Racial Speciesism And Caliban’s “Explod[ing] Prospero’s Old Myth” in Aime Cesaire’s A Tempest

Year 2024, Volume: 14 Issue: 28, 237 - 268, 29.07.2024

İmren Yelmiş

https://doi.org/10.33207/trkede.1472379

Abstract

The political turmoil between the 1950s and the 1970s that stemmed from the liberation movements in Africa, and in the Caribbean Islands, in which African/ black diaspora is so common, triggered many writers of the time to visit colonial literature in order to be able to find a meaning for the liberation struggles of the blacks. Similarly, Aimé Césaire, a Francophone literary and political figure, revisited Shakespeare’s The Tempest (around 1611), and adapted it into A Tempest (Une Tempête,1969). A Tempest is a play in which Shakespearean Prospero’s strong and univocal status is replaced by strong and rebellious Caliban, who subverts all the colonial discourses that marginalise and dehumanise the blacks. In the light of these discussions, this paper aims to discuss that in A Tempest, Caliban becomes an instrument for Césaire in order to demarginalise the blacks contrary to Prospero’s dehumanising methods applied through racial speciesism. By means of Caliban’s “explod[ing] Prospero’s old myth”, Césaire wants to prove that blacks are humans, too, with a glorious history and identity to be proud of.

Keywords

Racial Speciesism, Dehumanisation of Colonised Humans, "Thingification", Rebellious Language, "Explod[ing]" Old Colonial Myths

12- Sömürülen İnsanların İnsandışılaştırılması Üzerine Yeniden Düşünmek: Aimé Césaire’in A Tempest Adlı Oyununda Irksal Türcülük ve Caliban’ın “Prospero’nun Eski Mitini Yerle Bir Etmesi”

Abstract

1950’ler ve 1970’ler arasında, Afrika’da ve Afrika/ siyahi diyasporasının yoğun olduğu Karayip Adaları’nda gerçekleştirilen özgürlük hareketlerinden kaynaklanan politik çalkantılar, siyahilerin özgürlük mücadeleri konusunu daha da anlamlı kılabilmek için o dönemki yazarların pek çoğunu sömürgecilik dönemi edebiyatını ziyarete sevk etti. Frankofon bir edebî ve politik şahsiyet olan Aimé Césaire, Shakespeare’in The Tempest (Fırtına) (yaklaşık olarak 1611) adlı oyununa yeniden dönüp, onu, A Tempest’a (Bir Fırtına) (Une Tempête,1969) uyarladı. A Tempest, siyahileri marjinalleştiren ve insandışılaştıran sömürgecilik söylemlerini yerle bir eden, güçlü ve asi Caliban karakterinin, Shakespeare’in çizdiği Prospero’nun güçlü ve tek sesli duruşunun yerini aldığı bir oyundur. Bu tartışmalar ışığında bu makale, A Tempest’ta, Prospero’nun, ırksal türcülük aracılığıyla uyguladığı insandışılaştırma yöntemlerinin aksine, Césaire’in, Caliban karakterini, siyahileri ötekileştirilmekten uzak tutmak için bir araç olarak kullandığını tartışmayı amaçlamaktadır. Césaire, Caliban’ın “Prospero’nun eski mitini yerle bir etmesi” aracılığıyla, siyahilerin de gurur duyulacak şanlı bir tarih ve kimlikleri olan insanlar olduğunu kanıtlamak istemektedir.

Keywords

Irksal Türcülük, Sömürülen İnsanların İnsandışılaştırılması, "Şeyleştirme", Asi Dil Kullanımı, Sömürgeci Mitlerin "Yerle Bir Edilmesi"

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