Reluctant Igbo: The matter of cultural identity in Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde

Year 2022, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 160 - 170, 30.10.2022

Mahmut Kayaaltı

https://doi.org/10.53047/josse.1184418

Abstract

Sömürgecilik sonrası çalışmalarda kültür ve kimlik konuları büyük bir yer tutmaktadır. Çağdaş bilim insanları, farklı gruplara ait kültürlerin kesişimini ve bu gruplar içindeki bireylerin kimlik krizlerini yoğun olarak tartışmaktadırlar. Buna bağlı olarak, bu ilişkilerin görünmeyen yönlerini anlamaya dayalı yeni anlayışlar edebiyata kazandırılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, baş kadın kahraman Kehinde’nin Igbo olarak adlandırılan ya kendi Afrika kültürünü ya da sonradan edindiği Avrupa kültürünü tercih etmek zorunda kalması nedeniyle Nijeryalı feminist yazar Buchi Emecheta’nın Kehinde romanı (1994) kültür ve kimlik mercekleri üzerinden analiz edilmektedir. Bu baskı Kehinde’nin iki farklı kimlik arasında çabalamasına neden olur: bir tarafta yerel geleneklerine bağlı Nijeryalı bir kadın, diğer tarafta özgürlüğü savunan Avrupalı bir kadın, ki Kehinde daha çok ikincisine meyillidir. Çalışma, kuramcı Homi K. Bhabha’nın, kültür ve kimlik konularını, melezlik ve üçüncü alan gibi belirli terimlerle tamamlayıcı olarak ele aldığından dolayı sömürgecilik sonrası kavramları ile ele alınmıştır.

Keywords

Kehinde, kimlik, melezlik, üçüncü alan, Homi Bhabha

Reluctant Igbo: The matter of cultural identity in Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde

Abstract

Culture and identity issues occupy a great deal of place in postcolonial studies. Contemporary scholars have been highly debating the intersection of cultures belonging to divergent groups and the identity crises of individuals within those groups. Accordingly, new insights based on understanding the invisible aspects of these relations are gained to literature. In this study, Nigerian feminist writer Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde (1994) is analysed through the lenses of culture and identity since the protagonist Kehinde is forced to prefer either her native African culture, called Igbo or her acquired European culture. Such pressure causes Kehinde to strive for two different identities: a Nigerian woman adhering to local traditions and a European woman favouring freedom, though she is inclined to the latter. The paper has been approached by theorist Homi K. Bhabha’s postcolonial notions since he holds culture and identity issues complementarily with particular terms which are hybridity and third space.

Keywords

Kehinde, identity, hybridity, third space, Homi Bhabha

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