The “Missing Testimony” of the Precarious Migrant in Hassan Blasim’s Short Stories

Yıl 2021, Cilt: 9 Sayı: 18, 96 - 111, 15.10.2021

Hıba Ghanem

https://doi.org/10.20304/humanitas.953706

Öz

This article argues that Hassan Blasim’s short story selection, The Corpse Exhibition and Other Stories of Iraq, distinctively portrays the migrant resistance to the state of precarity inherent in the experience of migration and statelessness. Adopting Agamben’s concept of “testimony”, this article offers a comparative analysis of how migrants use language to narratively construct their testimonies within the context of the global North and global South, respectively. Narrative qua testimony-giving will be shown to highlight a linguistic form of resistance that redefines the meaning of precarity and safety upon which migration law is founded. It is within this linguistic form of resistance that the promise of salvation from precarity lies, a salvation, however, that can only be achieved through an Agambenian ‘play with the law’, potentially creating alternative meanings of safety and precarity fundamental to all law.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Hassan Blasim, Giorgio Agamben, migration literature, narrative studies

Hassan Blasim'in Kısa Hikayelerindeki Göçmenin “Kayıp Tanıklığı”

Öz

Bu makale Hassan Blasim’in kısa hikaye seçkisi, Ceset Sergisi ve Başka Irak Hikayeleri’ni inceler ve seçkinin göç ve devletsizlik tecrübeleriyle ilintili olan, “prekarite” diye de adlandırılan yoksunluk halinin kendine özgü, yetkin bir temsili olduğunu savunur. Agamben’in “tanıklık” kavramından yola çıkan makale göçmenlerin küresel Kuzey ve küresel Güney bağlamında devletsizlik tanıklıklarını hikayeleştirirken nasıl bir dil kullandıklarını karşılaştırmalı bir bakış açısıyla inceler. Tanıklık yapmak ya da ifade vermek olarak anlaşılabilecek bu anlatı şeklinin, göçmenlerle ilgili kanunları şekillendiren “prekarite” ve güvenlilik kavramlarının anlamlarını tekrar yorumladığını, böylelikle dilsel bir tür direnme şeklini ortaya çıkardığını gösterir. Bu dilsel direnişin vadettiği “prekarite”den kurtuluş ancak, bütün kanunların temelindeki “prekarite” ve güvenlilik hallerine dair alternative anlamlar yaratan, Agamben’in tartıştığı “kanun içinde oyun” aracılığıyla ulaşılabilir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Hassan Blasim, Giorgio Agamben, göç edebiyatı, anlatı çalışmaları

Kaynakça

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