Critical Race Theory in Literature: In The Blood By Suzan-Lori Parks

Yıl 2024, Sayı: Edebiyat Kuramları ve Eleştiri Özel Sayısı, 206 - 223, 31.10.2024

Tuba Baykara

https://doi.org/10.29110/soylemdergi.1552906

Öz

This study seeks to explore the fundamental principles of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and to use it as an analytical tool in order to discuss Suzan-Lori Parks’s play, In The Blood. Through the key tenets of CRT such as the systematic racism, race as a social construct, intersectionality and power structures, it is framed a comprehensive theoretical background for a literary analysis. Relatedly, the primary focus of this study is to deeply analyze race, gender, power relations and socio-economic conditions with CRT through the playwright’s innovative representation of blackness. CRT clearly shows that racism is constructed through discriminative practices and sustained by law and institutions resulting in justification and accordingly normalization of oppression. In line with CRT’s main concerns, In The Blood embodies societal and ideological barriers and the dehumanization of black female bodies through social judgment, racial and gender discrimination, and motherhood. CRT essentially deals with how Parks reconstructs traditional narratives of guilt, shame, and femininity and claims that Hester is portrayed both as a victim of intersectional oppression and an individual struggling with the harsh conditions of life.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Critical Race Theory (CRT), literary analysis, racism, intersectionality, Suzan-Lori-Parks, In The Blood.

Edebiyatta Eleştirel Irk Kuramı: Suzan-Lori Parks'ın In The Blood Oyunu

Öz

Bu çalışma, Eleştirel Irk Kuramı’nın (EIK) temel ilkelerini ortaya çıkarmayı ve Suzan-Lori Parks’ın In The Blood adlı oyununu irdelemek için bunu analitik bir araç olarak kullanmayı amaçlamaktadır. Sistematik ırkçılık, toplumsal kurgu olarak ırk, kesişimsellik ve güç yapıları gibi EIK’nın temel ilkeleri aracılığıyla, edebi bir analiz için kapsamlı bir teorik arka plan oluşturulmaktadır. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmanın odak noktası, EIK’yı kullanarak cinsiyet, güç ilişkileri ve sosyo-ekonomik koşulları, yazarın siyahiliği temsili aracılığıyla derinlemesine analiz etmektir. EIK, ırkçılığın ayrımcı uygulamalarla inşa edildiğini ve baskının meşrulaştırılması ve buna bağlı olarak normalleştirilmesiyle sonuçlanan yasa ve kurumlar tarafından sürdürüldüğünü açıkça göstermektedir. EIK’nın temel prensipleri doğrultusunda, In The Blood oyunu, toplumsal yargılama, ırk ve cinsiyet ayrımcılığı ve annelik aracılığı ile toplumsal ve ideolojik engelleri ve siyahi kadın bedenlerin insanlıktan çıkarılmasını somutlaştırmaktadır. EIK esasen Parks'ın suçluluk, utanç ve kadınlığa dair geleneksel anlatıları nasıl yeniden yapılandırdığına odaklanmaktadır ve Hester'ı hem kesişimsel baskının kurbanı hem de hayatın zorlu koşullarıyla mücadele eden bir birey olarak tasvir edildiğini öne sürmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Eleştirel Irk Kuramı (EIK), edebi analiz, ırkçılık, kesişimsellik, Suzan-Lori-Parks, In The Blood.

Kaynakça

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