Araştırma Makalesi

Black Female as the “Transient Woman”: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Cilt: 26 Sayı: 1 28 Haziran 2025
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Black Female as the “Transient Woman”: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Öz

In her Female Subjectivity in African American Women’s Narratives of Enslavement: Beyond Borders (2009), Lynnette D. Myles conceptualizes Black female subjectivity as an intersubjective act that actively challenges and transforms oppositional views and fixed notions of identity and defines it as the “Transient Woman.” The Transient Woman is a fluid consciousness that moves— in and out, back and forth, —in in-between places toward subjectivity rupturing various forms of Otherness. It is not a close-ended paragon, but rather a beginning of a new consciousness with which the Black woman talks back to the stereotypical images—either sexless or wanton, evil, stubborn, hateful, dependent, and living for others—of Black womanhood prevalent in cultural imagination and textual presentation. By drawing on Anzaldúa’s concept of the “New Mestiza” consciousness and Bhabha’s theory of the “Third Space,” Myles posits that the Transient Woman embodies a new form of consciousness—one that empowers Black women to transform from unconscious objects to deliberate, and active forces within hegemonic society. This paper argues that in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), Maya Angelou presents self-consciousness as a developmental journey toward self-actualization, which begins in a state of unconsciousness and gradually evolves into a new, autonomous awareness. Furthermore, it contends that by navigating the challenges of identities within the Third Space and embracing a fluid, dynamic subjectivity, the autobiographical Maya emerges as the “Transient Woman.”

Anahtar Kelimeler

Kaynakça

  1. Angelou, M. (1984). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. London: Virago Press.
  2. Anzaldua, G. (1987). Borderlands La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books.
  3. Arensberg, L. K. (1999). Death as Metaphor of Self in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In: J.M. Braxton (Eds.), Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook, 111-128. London: Oxford University Press.
  4. Barnwell, C. A. (2009). Singin’ de Blues: Writing Black Female Survival in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In: H. Bloom (eds.), Maya Angelou: Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: New Edition, 133-146. New York: Chelsea House Publisher.
  5. Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge. --- . (1990).The Third Space: Interview with Homi Bhabha. In:J. Rutherford (eds.), Identity: Community, Culture, Difference, 207-22. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
  6. Blackburn, R. (1980). In Search of the Black Female Self: African American Women’s Autobiographies and Ethnicity. In: E. C. Jelinek (eds),Women’s Autobiography: Essays in Criticism, 133-148. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  7. Braxton, J. M. (1989). Black Women Writing Autobiography: A Tradition within a Tradition. Pennsylvania:Temple University Press.
  8. Cudjoe, Selwyn R. (1984). Maya Angelou and the Autobiographical Statement. In: M. Evans (eds.), Black Women Writers (1950—1980): A Critical Evaluation, 6-24. New York: Knopf Doubleday.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil

İngilizce

Konular

Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Siyaset, Kadın Araştırmaları

Bölüm

Araştırma Makalesi

Yazarlar

Yayımlanma Tarihi

28 Haziran 2025

Gönderilme Tarihi

25 Aralık 2024

Kabul Tarihi

14 Haziran 2025

Yayımlandığı Sayı

Yıl 2025 Cilt: 26 Sayı: 1

Kaynak Göster

APA
Popy, S. A. (2025). Black Female as the “Transient Woman”: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Kadın/Woman 2000, 26(1), 343-358. https://doi.org/10.33831/jws.v26i1.529
AMA
1.Popy SA. Black Female as the “Transient Woman”: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. JWS. 2025;26(1):343-358. doi:10.33831/jws.v26i1.529
Chicago
Popy, Shirin Akter. 2025. “Black Female as the ‘Transient Woman’: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. Kadın/Woman 2000 26 (1): 343-58. https://doi.org/10.33831/jws.v26i1.529.
EndNote
Popy SA (01 Haziran 2025) Black Female as the “Transient Woman”: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Kadın/Woman 2000 26 1 343–358.
IEEE
[1]S. A. Popy, “Black Female as the ‘Transient Woman’: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, JWS, c. 26, sy 1, ss. 343–358, Haz. 2025, doi: 10.33831/jws.v26i1.529.
ISNAD
Popy, Shirin Akter. “Black Female as the ‘Transient Woman’: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. Kadın/Woman 2000 26/1 (01 Haziran 2025): 343-358. https://doi.org/10.33831/jws.v26i1.529.
JAMA
1.Popy SA. Black Female as the “Transient Woman”: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. JWS. 2025;26:343–358.
MLA
Popy, Shirin Akter. “Black Female as the ‘Transient Woman’: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. Kadın/Woman 2000, c. 26, sy 1, Haziran 2025, ss. 343-58, doi:10.33831/jws.v26i1.529.
Vancouver
1.Shirin Akter Popy. Black Female as the “Transient Woman”: Anzalduan and Bhabhaian Construction of Subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. JWS. 01 Haziran 2025;26(1):343-58. doi:10.33831/jws.v26i1.529