Tides of Transformation: Storied Waters and Material Narrativity in Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 12 Sayı: 1, 100 - 125, 04.07.2025

Barış Ağır

https://doi.org/10.17572/mj2025.1.100-125

Öz

This study employs the theoretical framework of material ecocriticism to examine the agency, meaning generation, and narrativity of water in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide. The study examines the complex relationship between environment and culture, demonstrating how nonhuman phenomena, particularly water, possess agency, allowing them to create meaning and convey narratives. The novel creates a material narrative where nature and culture are intricately connected, with the natural world significantly influencing cultural formations and evolution. This study’s fundamental premise asserts that the novel emphasizes ecological and postcolonial issues, especially through the symbolic and literal significance of water. Water functions as a medium to examine issues including historical trauma, diaspora, and migrant displacement, connecting these human experiences to overarching ecological processes. The study provides a material ethics paradigm that contests anthropocentric perspectives, advocating for the ethical equality of humans and nonhumans based on their common material existence. The Hungry Tide examines water’s agency, contributing to discussions on the ecosocial crisis and offering insights into the interconnected issues of environmental deterioration and social displacement. In this context, this study highlights how Ghosh’s narrative encourages readers to contemplate the broader implications of ecological and cultural interconnections, thus enhancing comprehension of the pressing environmental challenges confronting both human and nonhuman entities in an interconnected world.

Anahtar Kelimeler

material ecocriticism, agency, narrativity, water, Sundarbans

Dönüşümün Gelgitleri: Amitav Ghosh'un The Hungry Tide Romanında Öykülü Sular ve Maddeci Anlatısallık

Öz

Bu çalışma, Amitav Ghosh’un The Hungry Tide romanında suyun eyleyiciliği, anlam üretimi ve anlatısallığını incelemek için maddeci ekoeleştiri teorisini kullanmaktadır. Çalışma, çevre ve kültür arasındaki karmaşık ilişkiyi analiz ederek, özellikle suyun eyleyicilik özelliği olduğunu ve anlam yaratma ve anlatı iletme kapasitesine sahip olduğunu göstermeyi amaçlamaktadır. Roman, doğa ve kültürün iç içe geçmiş bir biçimde birbirini etkileyerek geliştiği maddeci bir anlatı yaratır ve doğal dünya, kültürel oluşumları ve evrimi önemli ölçüde etkiler. Bu çalışmanın temel savı, romanın, özellikle suyun sembolik ve edebi anlamı aracılığıyla ekolojik ve postkolonyal sorunları vurguladığını ileri sürmektedir. Su, tarihi travma, diaspora ve göçmenlerin yerinden edilmesi gibi sorunları incelemek için bir araç işlevi görür ve bu insan deneyimlerini daha geniş ekolojik süreçlerle ilişkilendirir. Çalışma, insanmerkezli bakış açılarına karşı çıkan bir maddeci etik paradigma sunarak, insanlar ve diğer canlılar arasındaki etik eşitliği, ortak materyal varoluşlarına dayalı olarak savunmaktadır. The Hungry Tide romanı suyun eyleyiciliğini inceleyerek, ekososyal kriz üzerine tartışmalara katkı sağlamakta ve çevresel bozulma ve toplumsal yerinden edilme arasındaki iç içe geçmiş sorunlara dair içgörüler sunmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, bu çalışma, Ghosh’un anlatısının okuyucuları, ekolojik ve kültürel bağlantıların daha geniş etkilerini düşünmeye teşvik ettiğini vurgular ve böylece insan ve insandışı varlıkların karşılaştığı acil çevresel sorunları daha derinlemesine anlamaya katkıda bulunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

maddeci ekoeleştiri, eyleyicilik, anlatısallık, su, Sundarbans

Kaynakça

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