Conceded Reconciliation: The Impact of Habitus on Ethnic Identity Formation in Bread Givers and The Island Within

Year 2023, Volume: 6 Issue: 11, 132 - 148, 28.06.2023

Gamze Katı Gümüş

https://doi.org/10.35235/uicd.1298559

Abstract

The anti-Semitism of the 1920s affected the status of Jewish Americans as equal citizens in the United States. This paper examines the Jewish immigrant’s journey from their ethnic habitus to Americanization in Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers (1925/1999) and Ludwig Lewisohn’s The Island Within (1928) that were published amidst the rising tensions of Anti-Semitism. Yezierska and Lewisohn demonstrate how the habitus of these two characters shape their identities as Jewish Americans. Bourdieu’s sociological concept of habitus indicates that the character and the tastes of an individual are shaped in relation to the set structures of his habitus, which is internalized unconsciously. Sara Smolinsky in Bread Givers and Arthur Levy in The Island Within try to preserve their internalized Jewishness in a society that thought the unassimilable Jew was a menace to American values. This paper uses Pierre Bourdieu’s discussion on the habitus as well as Jean Phinney’s model of ethnic identity formation as its initial discussion and develops Phinney’s model to elaborate on the final phase of the formation of Jewish characters in these works. According to Phinney’s argument, the ethnic subject achieves reconciliation between the ethnic identity and the identity of the majority group. However, this paper argues that the main characters of the two novels--Sara and Arthur, reach a conceded reconciliation in the final phase of their ethnic identity formation, which allows them to exercise subjectivity and reclaim their identity against the deterministic aspect of habitus.

Keywords

Anzia Yezierska, Ludwig Lewisohn, Habitus, Ethnic Identity, Jewish American

Tavizle Ulaşılan Uzlaşı: Bread Givers ve The Island Within Eserlerinde Habitusun Etnik Kimlik Üzerindeki Etkisi

Abstract

1920lerin Yahudi karşıtlığı Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde yaşayan Yahudi Amerikalıların eşit vatandaşlar olarak statülerini etkilemiştir. Bu makale, artan Yahudi karşıtlığının oluşturduğu gerginlik döneminde basılan Anzia Yezierska’nın Bread Givers (1925/1999) ve Ludwig Lewisohn’un The Island Within (1928) eserlerinde Yahudi göçmenin etnik habitusundan Amerikanlaşmaya giden yolculuğunu incelemektedir. Yezierska ve Lewisohn, ana karakterlerin habituslarının birer Yahudi Amerikalı olarak kimliklerini nasıl biçimlendirdiğini göstermektedirler. Bourdieu’nün sosyolojik habitus kavramı bir bireyin kişiliği ve zevklerinin habitusunun yerleşmiş yapılarıyla ilişkili olarak biçimlendirildiğine ve bu habitusun bilinç dışı bir biçimde içselleştirildiğine işaret eder. Bread Givers eserinden Sara Smolinsky ile The Island Within eserinden Arthur Levy, asimile olamayacağı düşünülen Yahudilerin Amerikan değerlerine bir tehdit olarak algılandığı bir toplumda içselleştirilmiş Yahudiliklerini korumaya çalışmaktadırlar. Bu makale Pierre Bourdieu’nün habitus üzerine görüşlerinin yanısıra Jean Phinney’nin etnik kimlik oluşumu modelini ilk tartışma noktası olarak almakta ve Phinney’nin modelini bu eserlerdeki Yahudi karakterlerin kimlik oluşumunun son evresi hakkında tartışmak için geliştirmektedir. Phinney’nin savına göre etnik özne, etnik kimliği ve çoğunluğu oluşturan grubun kimliği arasında bir uzlaşmaya varır. Fakat bu makalede Sara ve Arthur’un etnik kimlik oluşumlarının son evresinde, habitusun deterministik tavrına karşı öznellikle hareket etmelerine ve kimliklerini geri kazanmalarına olanak sağlayan sekteye uğramış bir uzlaşmaya vardıkları öne sürülmektedir.

Keywords

Anzia Yezierska, Ludwig Lewisohn, Habitus, Etnik Kimlik, Yahudi Amerikalı

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