Araştırma Makalesi
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EXPOSURE TO ANOTHER CULTURE: SHAPING THE SELF OF THE SUBALTERN IN BUCHI EMECHETA’S KEHINDE

Yıl 2024, , 79 - 95, 31.01.2024
https://doi.org/10.33207/trkede.1250376

Öz

The aim of this study is to defamiliarize Gayatri Spivak’s pessimistic approach regarding the condition of the subaltern as a female subject. Spivak’s subaltern, misrepresented by the male-dominated West and the male-dominated East and therefore not belonging to any particular social group, has no history and cannot speak for herself. The position of the subaltern woman is examined based on Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde (1994), which deals with the circular migration of the eponymous character – Kehinde – from Nigeria to England, back to Nigeria and then back to England. The novel explores the binary between the self and the other of the subaltern woman in relation to the native and host cultures. To this end, the study uses several postcolonial concepts by Homi K. Bhabha, discussed at length in his book The Location of Culture (1994), such as mimicry, liminality, appropriation, and ambivalence, which, in its turn, conceptualises the position of the Nigerian subaltern woman in relation to cultural difference. The study foregrounds the validity of the popular woman theory known as African feminism, which specifically addresses the situation of African women. This approach also makes it possible to redefine the traditional concept of femininity in Nigerian culture. The study shows how cultural difference affects the growing consciousness of the subaltern woman, which ultimately helps her to become an independent person. The study concludes that, unlike Spivak’s subaltern, the Nigerian subaltern creates her own space from which she can speak for herself in the male-dominated society.

Kaynakça

  • BHABHA, H. K. (1994), The Location of Culture, London: Routledge.
  • BERRIAN, B. F. (1996), Her Ancestor’s Voice: The Ibeji Transcendence of Duality in Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde, In Marie Umeh (Ed.) Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta (pp. 169-184), New Jersey: Africa World Press.
  • DARDER, A., & Griffiths, T. G. (2018), Revisiting “Can the subaltern speak?”: introduction, Qualitative Research Journal, 18.2, 82-88.
  • DAWSON, A. (2010), Mongrel Nation: Diasporic Culture and the Making of Postcolonial Britain, Ann Arbor: Michigan UP.
  • EMECHETA, B. (1982), A Nigerian writer living in London, Kunapipi, 4.1, 11. Retrieved from https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=1131& context=kunapipi
  • EMECHETA, B. (1988), Feminism with Small ‘f’, In Kirsten Holst Peterson (Ed.) Criticism and Ideology: Second African Writers’ Conference (pp. 173-185), Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. EMECHETA, B. (1994), Kehinde, London: Heinemann.
  • HAWLEY, J. C. (1996), Coming to Terms: Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde and the Birth of a ‘Nation’, In Marie Umeh (Ed.) Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta (pp. 333-348), New Jersey: Africa World Press.
  • JAMES, A. (1990), Their Own Voices: African Women Writers Talk, London: Heinemann.
  • MAGGIO, J. (2007), Can the subaltern be heard? Political theory, translation, representation, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Alternatives, 32.4, 419-443.
  • MUONEKE, R. (2006), Migration, Transformation, and Identity Formation in Buchi Emecheta’s In the Ditch and Kehinde, Middle Passages and the Healing Place of History: Migration and Identity in Black Women’s Literature, 52-75.
  • LIBIN, M. (2003), Can the subaltern be heard? Response and responsibility in South Africa's human spirit, Textual Practice, 17.1, 119-140.
  • MOHAN, M. V. (2017), Gender Performativity in Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde, Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences, 5.2, 84-88.
  • OGUNYEMI, C. O. (1996), Africa wo/man palava: The Nigerian novel by women, University of Chicago Press.
  • PRAKASH, G. (1992), Can the ‘subaltern’ ride? A reply to O'Hanlon and Washbrook, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 34.1, 168-184.
  • SAFFARI, S. (2016), Can the subaltern be heard? Knowledge production, representation, and responsibility in international development, Transcience Journal, 7.1, 36-46.
  • SPIVAK, G. C. (1987), Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.) Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 294-308), Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
  • UMEH, M. A. (1996), (En) Gendering African Womanhood: Locating Sexual Politics in Igbo Society and Across Boundaries, In Marie Umeh (Ed.) Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta (pp. xxiii-xlii), New Jersey: Africa World Press.

Başka Bir Kültüre Maruz Kalmak: Buchi Emecheta'nın Kehinde Eserinde Madunun Benliğinin Şekillenmesi

Yıl 2024, , 79 - 95, 31.01.2024
https://doi.org/10.33207/trkede.1250376

Öz

Bu çalışmanın amacı, Gayatri Spivak’ın bir kadın özne olarak madunun durumuna ilişkin kötümser yaklaşımını yabancılaştırmaktır. Spivak’ın madunu, erkek egemen Batı ve erkek egemen Doğu tarafından yanlış temsil edilen ve bu nedenle herhangi bir toplumsal gruba ait olmayan, tarihi olmayan ve kendi adına konuşamayan bir kadındır. Kadın madunun konumu, Buchi Emecheta’nın Kehinde (1994) adlı romanı temel alınarak incelenmiştir. Bu roman, esere adını veren Kehinde adlı karakterin Nijerya'dan İngiltere'ye, oradan tekrar Nijerya'ya ve sonra tekrar İngiltere'ye dairesel göçünü ele almaktadır. Roman, yerli ve ev sahibi kültürlerle ilişkili olarak kadın madunun benliği ve ötekisi arasındaki ikiliği araştırmaktadır. Bu amaçla çalışma, Homi K. Bhabha’nın Kültürel Konumlanış (1994) adlı kitabında uzun uzadıya tartıştığı taklit, melezlik, kendine mal etme ve ikirciklik gibi çeşitli postkolonyal kavramları kullanarak Nijeryalı kadın madunun kültürel farklılık karşısındaki konumunu kavramsallaştırıyor. Çalışma, Afrika feminizmi olarak bilinen ve özellikle Afrikalı kadınların durumunu ele alan popüler kadın teorisinin geçerliliğini ön plana çıkarmaktadır. Bu yaklaşım aynı zamanda Nijerya kültüründeki geleneksel kadınlık kavramının yeniden tanımlanmasını mümkün kılmaktadır. Çalışma, kültürel farklılığın madun kadının artan bilincini nasıl etkilediğini ve sonuçta bağımsız bir kişi olmasına nasıl yardımcı olduğunu göstermektedir. Çalışma, Spivak’ın madunundan farklı olarak Nijeryalı madunun erkek egemen toplumda kendi adına konuşabileceği kendi alanını yarattığı sonucuna varmaktadır.

Kaynakça

  • BHABHA, H. K. (1994), The Location of Culture, London: Routledge.
  • BERRIAN, B. F. (1996), Her Ancestor’s Voice: The Ibeji Transcendence of Duality in Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde, In Marie Umeh (Ed.) Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta (pp. 169-184), New Jersey: Africa World Press.
  • DARDER, A., & Griffiths, T. G. (2018), Revisiting “Can the subaltern speak?”: introduction, Qualitative Research Journal, 18.2, 82-88.
  • DAWSON, A. (2010), Mongrel Nation: Diasporic Culture and the Making of Postcolonial Britain, Ann Arbor: Michigan UP.
  • EMECHETA, B. (1982), A Nigerian writer living in London, Kunapipi, 4.1, 11. Retrieved from https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=1131& context=kunapipi
  • EMECHETA, B. (1988), Feminism with Small ‘f’, In Kirsten Holst Peterson (Ed.) Criticism and Ideology: Second African Writers’ Conference (pp. 173-185), Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. EMECHETA, B. (1994), Kehinde, London: Heinemann.
  • HAWLEY, J. C. (1996), Coming to Terms: Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde and the Birth of a ‘Nation’, In Marie Umeh (Ed.) Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta (pp. 333-348), New Jersey: Africa World Press.
  • JAMES, A. (1990), Their Own Voices: African Women Writers Talk, London: Heinemann.
  • MAGGIO, J. (2007), Can the subaltern be heard? Political theory, translation, representation, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Alternatives, 32.4, 419-443.
  • MUONEKE, R. (2006), Migration, Transformation, and Identity Formation in Buchi Emecheta’s In the Ditch and Kehinde, Middle Passages and the Healing Place of History: Migration and Identity in Black Women’s Literature, 52-75.
  • LIBIN, M. (2003), Can the subaltern be heard? Response and responsibility in South Africa's human spirit, Textual Practice, 17.1, 119-140.
  • MOHAN, M. V. (2017), Gender Performativity in Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde, Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences, 5.2, 84-88.
  • OGUNYEMI, C. O. (1996), Africa wo/man palava: The Nigerian novel by women, University of Chicago Press.
  • PRAKASH, G. (1992), Can the ‘subaltern’ ride? A reply to O'Hanlon and Washbrook, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 34.1, 168-184.
  • SAFFARI, S. (2016), Can the subaltern be heard? Knowledge production, representation, and responsibility in international development, Transcience Journal, 7.1, 36-46.
  • SPIVAK, G. C. (1987), Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.) Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 294-308), Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
  • UMEH, M. A. (1996), (En) Gendering African Womanhood: Locating Sexual Politics in Igbo Society and Across Boundaries, In Marie Umeh (Ed.) Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta (pp. xxiii-xlii), New Jersey: Africa World Press.
Toplam 17 adet kaynakça vardır.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil İngilizce
Konular Afrika Dilleri, Edebiyatları ve Kültürleri
Bölüm Araştırma Makaleleri
Yazarlar

Yakut Akbay 0000-0003-1557-232X

Yayımlanma Tarihi 31 Ocak 2024
Gönderilme Tarihi 12 Şubat 2023
Yayımlandığı Sayı Yıl 2024

Kaynak Göster

APA Akbay, Y. (2024). EXPOSURE TO ANOTHER CULTURE: SHAPING THE SELF OF THE SUBALTERN IN BUCHI EMECHETA’S KEHINDE. Trakya Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 14(27), 79-95. https://doi.org/10.33207/trkede.1250376