Mortui Vivos Docent: ‘We Teach Life, Sir!’

Öz

Rafeef Ziadah, a poet of Palestinian origin living in London, wrote the poem We teach life,sir as a response to a veiled accusation of hate directed at her by a journalist. In many ways, this poem is a visual and auditory manifesto of the suffering experienced in Palestine and especially Gaza. This study attempts to explore the symbolic meanings of the imagery elements that the poem displays in such a rich style, extending to allegorical subtextual fields. As a result of this attempt, the pieces that were redefined with the unity of imagery and symbolism were brought together like puzzle pieces, and an attempt was made to determine the Gestalt narrative of the poem. In the final analysis, Rafeef Ziadah’s symbolic imagery demonstrates that the pieces together express a larger narrative than their individual meaning and portrays a picture of how the massacre in Gaza has turned into a silent (silenced) genocide. The poet diagnoses the world's indifferent silence towards this situation as a 'trauma spectacle' which can be roughly defined as being content with witnessing the suffering.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Gestalt narrative
• Rafeef Ziadah
• Silenced genocide
• Trauma spectacle.

Ölüler Yaşayanlara Öğretmektedir: ‘Hayatı Öğretiyoruz, Bayım!’

Öz

Londra’da yaşayan Filistin kökenli bir şair olarak tanıdığımız Rafeef Ziadah bir gazetecinin kendisine yönelttiği üstü kapalı nefret suçlaması üzerine cevap niteliğinde We teach life,sir şiirini yazmıştır. Bu şiir pek çok yönden Filistin ve özellikle Gazze’de yaşanan acıların görsel ve işitsel bir manifestosu hâlindedir. Mevcut çalışma şiirin gayet zengin bir üslupla sergilediği imgelem öğelerinin sembolik anlamlarını keşfetmek üzere alegorik satır altı anlamlara uzanan bir teşebbüste bulunur. Bu teşebbüs nihayetinde ortaya konan, imgelem-sembolizm birlikteliğiyle yeniden tanımlanmış parçalar bir puzzle tamamlar gibi bir araya getirilerek şiirin Gestalt anlatısı tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Son tahlilde, Rafeef Ziadah’nin sembolik imgelemi parçaların bir aradayken bizatihi anlatılarından daha büyük bir anlatıyı dile getirmekte olduğunu göstermiş ve Gazze’de yaşanan katliamın sessizleştirilmiş türden (silenced) bir soykırıma dönüştüğünün resmini çizmiştir. Ayrıca şair dünyanın bu duruma karşı kayıtsız sessizliğini -henüz yaygın olarak kullanılan bir tabir olmasa da- yaşanılan acıları seyirle yetinmek olarak kabaca tanımlanabilen, ‘travma gösterisi’ olarak teşhis etmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Gestalt anlatı
• Rafeef Ziadah
• Sessizleştirilmiş soykırım
• Travma Gösterisi.

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