Learning about a Woman Queen in Africa: Njinga (1583-1663) as an Ecological Human Rights Defender and a Sister Against Turbulent Times of Racism and War: An Ecolinguistic Study

Year 2022, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 64 - 77, 30.04.2022

Fazıla Derya Agiş

https://doi.org/10.52613/ujhc.1063732

Abstract

Njinga (1582 Ndongo-December 1663 Matamba) was a female black warrior from the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people known as Angola today where Portuguese is the official language of communication. She was criticized for assisting the Portuguese, being a cannibal, and contributing to the African slave trade. She could speak several languages. She was the daughter of King Kiluanji. However, according to a movie on her, she freed her country from Portuguese invaders during the turbulent times of war and racism, leading to slavery (see Graciano (director of the movie), 2013). In this study, her representations as a good strategist and a politician in the movie directed by Graciano (2013) and in the comics on her prepared and published by UNESCO (comic strip text by Serbin and Joubeaud, 2014) will be compared from an ecocritical point of view as slavery and mining are also means of nature devastation, leading to turbulent times of pandemics, discrimination, and wars. Arran Stibbe’s (2015 and 2021) ecological discourse analysis strategies will be used to divide sentences on Njinga’s acts into three categories as those related to (1) destructive discourse, (2) ambivalent discourse, and (3) beneficial discourse in relation to environmental ethics, keeping in mind the Halliday’s (1994) three language “metafunctions” categorized as (a) “ideational,” (d) “interpersonal,” and (c) “textual” (as cited in Gong and Liu, 2018).

Keywords

African Culture, Angola, Ecolinguistics, Female Rulers, Njinga

Afrika'da Bir Kadın Kraliçe Hakkında Bilgi Edinme: Ekolojik İnsan Hakları Savunucusu ve Çalkantılı Irkçılık ve Savaş Zamanlarında Bir Kız Kardeş Olarak Njinga (1583-1663): Ekolinguistik Bir Çalışma

Abstract

Njinga (1582 Ndongo-Aralık 1663 Matamba), Bugün Portekizce’nin resmi iletişim dili olduğu Angola olarak bilinen Mbundu halkının Ndongo ve Matamba Krallıklarından bir kadın siyah savaşçıdır. Portekizlilere yardım ettiği, yamyam olduğu ve Afrika kö le ticaretine katkıda bulunduğu için eleştirildi. Birkaç dil konuşabiliyordu. Kral Kiluanji’nin kızıydı. Bununla birlikte, onunla ilgili bir filme göre, savaş ve ırkçılığın çalkantılı zamanlarında ülkesini Portekizli işgalcilerden kurtardı ve köleliğe yol açtı (bkz. Graciano (filmin yönetmeni), 2013). Bu çalışmada, Graciano’nun yönettiği filmde (2013) ve UNESCO tarafından hazırlanan ve yayınlanan çizgi romandaki (Serbin ve Joubeaud’un çizgi roman metni, 2014) Njinga’nın iyi bir stratejist ve politikacı olarak temsilleri, kölelik ve madencilik de pandemilerin, ayrımcılığın ve savaşların çalkantılı zamanlarına yol açan doğanın tahribat aracı olduğu için ekokritik açıdan karşılaştırılacaktır. Halliday’in (1994) (a) “idealci”, (b) “kişilerarası” ve (c) “metinsel” olarak kategorize edilen üç dil “kullanım işlevlerini” akılda tutarak (Gong ve Liu’da belirtildiği gibi, 2018), Arran Stibbe’nin (2015 ve 2021) ekolojik söylem analiz stratejileri, Njinga’nın eylemlerine ilişkine cümleleri üç kategoriye bölmek için kullanılacaktır: (1) yıkıcı söylem, (2) kararsız söylem ve (3) çevre etiği ile ilgili yararlı söylem.

Keywords

Afrika Kültürü, Angola, Ekolinguistik, Kadın Yöneticiler, Njinga

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