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Zaynab Alkali’nin The Stillborn Eserindeki Nijeryalı Alt Sınıf Kadının Durumunun Yapıbozucu Açıdan Okunması

Year 2020, Autumn, 308 - 318, 18.12.2020
https://doi.org/10.21733/ibad.744613

Abstract

Günümüzde Afrikalı kadınlar yurtiçinde ve yurtdışında ulusal edebiyatın geliştirilmesinde aktif rol almaktadır. Fakat kadın yazarların edebiyat sahnesinde yer almaları hemen gerçekleşmemiştir. Sömürgecilikten sonra Afrika’da edebiyat alanı erkek egemen olmuştur. Bu nedenle, Afrikalı kadın tanımı ataerkil toplumun normları tarafından belirlenmiş yanlış betimlemeler üzerine kurulmuştur. Kadın edebiyatının ortaya çıkması, erkek yazarlar tarafından oluşturulmuş kadınlık tanımlamalarına direnmek ve yeniden yapılandırmak için kaçınılmaz bir gelişme olmuştur. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Spivak’ın alt sınıf kadın kavramını Nijerya kültürü kapsamında Zaynab Alkali’nin The Stillborn (1984) eseri temelinde inceleyerek yabancılaştırmaktır. Çalışmada, Spivak’ın alt sınıf kadın tanımının aksine, Nijeryalı alt sınıf kadının erkek egemen toplumda sesini duyurabildiği iddia edilmektedir. Afrika feminizmi, Nijerya kültüründe kadınlığa atfedilen anlamları irdelemek için yerel bir eleştiri olarak uygulanmaktadır. Derrida’nın yapıbozucu kuramı, metin ve metnin anlamı arasındaki tutarsızlık ve uyuşmazlıkları ortaya çıkarmak amacıyla yapılan bu araştırmanın teorik çerçevesini oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma, Derrida tarafından tasarlanan ikili, logocentrism, différance ve aporia gibi bir dizi terim ve kavramları içermektedir.

References

  • Alkali, Z. (1984). The Stillborn. Harlow: Longman Group.
  • Bayu, E. K. (2019). A Comparative Analysis on the Perspectives of African Feminism vs Western Feminism: Philosophical Debate with their Criticism and its Implication for Women’s Rights in Ethiopia Context. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 11(4), 54-58.
  • Busby, M. (1996). Foreword. In M. Umeh (Ed.), Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta (pp. xiii-xix). New Jersey: Africa World Press.
  • Derrida, J. (1997). Of Grammatology (G. Spivak, Trans.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Derrida, J. (1993). Aporias (T. Dutoit, Trans.). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  • Emecheta, B. (1988). Feminism with a small ‘f’! In K. H. Peterson (Ed.), Criticism and Ideology: Second African Writers’ Conference (p. 179). Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
  • Falola, T., & Matthew M. Heaton. (2008). A History of Nigeria (pp. 4-6). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Harmon, D. E. (2001). Exploration of Africa: The Emerging Nations: Nigeria. Philadelphia: Chelsea Press.
  • James, A. (1990). In Their Own Voices: African Women Writers Talk (p. 6). London: Heinemann.
  • Kolawole, M. E. M. (1997). Womanism and African Consciousness (p. 204). Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
  • Newell, S. (2006). West African Literatures: Ways of Reading (p. 153). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Ngcobo, L. (1988). African Motherhood – Myth and Reality”. In K. H. Peterson (Ed.), Criticism and Ideology: Second African Writers’ Conference (pp. 142-151). Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
  • Nnaemeka, O. (1997). Introduction: Imag(in)ing Knowledge, Power, and Subversion in the Margins. In The Politics of (M)othering: Womanhood, Identity and Resistance in African Literature (pp. 3-4). London: Routledge.
  • Nnoromele, S. C. (2002). Representing the African woman: Subjectivity and Self. The Joys of Motherhood. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 43(2), 178-190.
  • Okereke, G. E. (1996). Woman's Quest for Autonomy in Zaynab Alkali's The Stillborn. Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, 242(3), 97-120.
  • Phillips, D. A. (2004). Modern World Nations: Nigeria (p. 57). Philadelphia: Chelsea Press.
  • Pittin, R. I. (2002). Education – Issues of Gender, Class and Ideology”. In Women and Work in Northern Nigeria: Transcending Boundaries (pp. 340-351). New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
  • Raji, A., et al. (2016). Socio-cultural Factors and Male-Child Preference among Couples in Ilorin-West Local Government Area of Kwara-State, Nigeria. Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Language Studies, 3(1), 57-72.
  • Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorti. (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.
  • Stratton, Florence. (1994). Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender. London: Routledge.
  • Ugbabe, Kanchana (1998). Zaynab Alkali, Journal of Language and Literature, 4, p. 15.
  • Whitsitt, Novian. (2012). Zaynab Alkali. In E. K. Akyeampong & H. L. Gates, Jr. (Eds.), Dictionary of African Biography. Vol.1 (p. 178). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

A Deconstructive Reading of the Nigerian Subaltern in Zaynab Alkali’s The Stillborn

Year 2020, Autumn, 308 - 318, 18.12.2020
https://doi.org/10.21733/ibad.744613

Abstract

Nowadays African women are taking an active role in the development of national literature both at home and abroad. However, the advent of female writers to literary arena was not a sudden event. After decolonisation, African literary sphere was heavily male dominated. Hence, the portrayal of the African woman was based upon the misrepresented image predetermined by the norms of patriarchal society. The emergence of women’s writing in Africa was inescapable and necessary to resist and reconstruct meanings of womanhood created by male writers. The purpose of the present paper is to defamiliarize Spivak’s subaltern as a female subject within the context of the Nigerian culture in Zaynab Alkali’s The Stillborn (1984). It is argued that as opposed to Spivak’s subaltern, the Nigerian subaltern can speak up for herself in the male-dominated society. African feminism is applied as a vernacular criticism to scrutinize meanings attributed to womanhood in the Nigerian culture. Derrida’s deconstruction constitutes the theoretical framework of the study to reveal inconsistencies and controversies between the text and its signification. To this end, the research involves a number of terms and concepts devised by Derrida such as binary, logocentrism, différance and aporia.

References

  • Alkali, Z. (1984). The Stillborn. Harlow: Longman Group.
  • Bayu, E. K. (2019). A Comparative Analysis on the Perspectives of African Feminism vs Western Feminism: Philosophical Debate with their Criticism and its Implication for Women’s Rights in Ethiopia Context. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 11(4), 54-58.
  • Busby, M. (1996). Foreword. In M. Umeh (Ed.), Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta (pp. xiii-xix). New Jersey: Africa World Press.
  • Derrida, J. (1997). Of Grammatology (G. Spivak, Trans.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Derrida, J. (1993). Aporias (T. Dutoit, Trans.). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  • Emecheta, B. (1988). Feminism with a small ‘f’! In K. H. Peterson (Ed.), Criticism and Ideology: Second African Writers’ Conference (p. 179). Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
  • Falola, T., & Matthew M. Heaton. (2008). A History of Nigeria (pp. 4-6). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Harmon, D. E. (2001). Exploration of Africa: The Emerging Nations: Nigeria. Philadelphia: Chelsea Press.
  • James, A. (1990). In Their Own Voices: African Women Writers Talk (p. 6). London: Heinemann.
  • Kolawole, M. E. M. (1997). Womanism and African Consciousness (p. 204). Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
  • Newell, S. (2006). West African Literatures: Ways of Reading (p. 153). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Ngcobo, L. (1988). African Motherhood – Myth and Reality”. In K. H. Peterson (Ed.), Criticism and Ideology: Second African Writers’ Conference (pp. 142-151). Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
  • Nnaemeka, O. (1997). Introduction: Imag(in)ing Knowledge, Power, and Subversion in the Margins. In The Politics of (M)othering: Womanhood, Identity and Resistance in African Literature (pp. 3-4). London: Routledge.
  • Nnoromele, S. C. (2002). Representing the African woman: Subjectivity and Self. The Joys of Motherhood. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 43(2), 178-190.
  • Okereke, G. E. (1996). Woman's Quest for Autonomy in Zaynab Alkali's The Stillborn. Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, 242(3), 97-120.
  • Phillips, D. A. (2004). Modern World Nations: Nigeria (p. 57). Philadelphia: Chelsea Press.
  • Pittin, R. I. (2002). Education – Issues of Gender, Class and Ideology”. In Women and Work in Northern Nigeria: Transcending Boundaries (pp. 340-351). New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
  • Raji, A., et al. (2016). Socio-cultural Factors and Male-Child Preference among Couples in Ilorin-West Local Government Area of Kwara-State, Nigeria. Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Language Studies, 3(1), 57-72.
  • Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorti. (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.
  • Stratton, Florence. (1994). Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender. London: Routledge.
  • Ugbabe, Kanchana (1998). Zaynab Alkali, Journal of Language and Literature, 4, p. 15.
  • Whitsitt, Novian. (2012). Zaynab Alkali. In E. K. Akyeampong & H. L. Gates, Jr. (Eds.), Dictionary of African Biography. Vol.1 (p. 178). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
There are 22 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Original Articles
Authors

Yakut Akbay 0000-0003-1557-232X

Publication Date December 18, 2020
Acceptance Date June 16, 2020
Published in Issue Year 2020 Autumn

Cite

APA Akbay, Y. (2020). A Deconstructive Reading of the Nigerian Subaltern in Zaynab Alkali’s The Stillborn. IBAD Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi(8), 308-318. https://doi.org/10.21733/ibad.744613

IBAD Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi / IBAD Journal of Social Sciences / IBAD

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