A POSTCOLONIAL READING: SIGNIFICANCE OF LAND AND HISTORY IN NATIVE AMERICAN IDENTITY IN LESLIE MARMON SILKO’S ALMANAC OF THE DEAD

Yıl 2020, Sayı: 64, 165 - 184, 26.06.2020

Filiz Barin-akman

Öz

Abstract

Almanac of the Dead shows how a disrupted relationship to land and history results in fragmentation of identity, cultural disorientation and societal degeneration for Native Americans. From a Postcolonial perspective, Almanac of the Dead is a novel which emphasizes the importance of land and history in Native American identity. In order to criticize colonialist-capitalist practices forced on the Native American cultures and societies, the author Leslie Marmon Silko, creating degenerate and alienated characters who are gripped by the realities of capitalistic neo-colonial structures, intends to draw attention to corruption and disintegration taking place in individual and societal levels. Through dramatic episodes offered in the novel, Silko suggests that the main culprits in Native Americans’ cultural degeneration and aliniation are first and foremost oblivion of ancestral history/past and a loss of traditional connection to land and nature. Therefore, the novel becomes a manifesto of resistance against the imposed Euro-American culture and its narratives. As Postcolonial critic Frantz Fanon would advise, Silko maintains that the cure lies in understanding one’s history and regenerating ties to nature and the land.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Native Americans, Almanac of the Dead, Postcolonialism, Comparative Literature, Land and History

Bir Kültür Mirasının Direnişi: Leslie Marmon Silko’nun Almanac Of The Dead Romanında Toprak/Yurt ve Tarih/Geçmişin Amerikan Kızılderili Kimliğindeki Önemi

Öz

Almanac of the Dead romanı Amerika’nın yerlileri olan Kızılderililer için toprak/yurt ve tarih/geleneklerle olan ilişkideki kopukluğun kimlik parçalanmasına, kültürel yozlaşmaya ve toplumsal dejenerasyona yol açtığına işaret eder. Sömürge Sonrası Araştırmaları perspektifinden incelenecek olursa, roman Amerikan Yerlilerinin kimliğinde toprak ve tarihin önemini vurgulayan bir metindir. Kızılderili toplumları ve kültürleri üzerine empoze edilen sömürgeci-kapitalist uygulamaları eleştirmek için yazar Leslie Marmon Silko, kapitalist neo-sömürge yapıların gerçekleri tarafından esir alınarak yozlaşan ve yabancılaşmış karakterler yaratır ve böylece bireysel ve toplumsal düzeylerde çöküş ve parçalanma süreçlerine dikkat çeker. Romanda sunulan dramatik hikayelendirmeler sayesinde Silko, Kızılderililerin kültürel dejenerasyonundaki ve soyutlanmasındaki temel etkenlerin her şeyden önce ataların tarihine / geçmişine kayıtsızlık ve toprak ve doğa ile olan geleneksel bağlantının kaybı olduğunu ileri sürer. Bu nedenle roman, empoze edilen Avrupa-Amerikan kültürüne ve anlatılarına karşı bir direniş manifestosu haline gelmektedir. Sömürge Sonrası Araştırmalar eleştirmeni Frantz Fanon'un önereceği gibi, Silko, kültürel iyileşmenin kişinin tarihini anlamada, doğa ve toprakla olan ilişkileri yeniden oluşturmada yattığını savunur.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Kızılderililer/ Amerikan Yerlileri, Almanac of the Dead, Toprak/Yurt, Tarih/Gelenek, Postcolonialism

Kaynakça

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