Universal Womanhood and Epistemic Exclusion: A Postcolonial Critique of Western Feminism
Özet
This chapter explores the evolution of Western feminist discourse, beginning with Mary Wollstonecraft’s advocacy of intellectual equality for women and extending to postcolonial critique of universal womanhood. Feminist frameworks have deepened the notion of women’s rights and reconceptualised femininity as a social and cultural construct while still maintaining historical assumptions based on Euro-modern contexts. The chapter, drawing on insights from postcolonial theorists such as Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, posits that the universal concept of “woman” could mask the differences that arise from racial identity, colonial history, and geographical location. These theoretical tensions are manifested through an extensive analysis of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. While it has traditionally been viewed as a feminist text of self-assertion, the work demonstrates that the independence of the protagonist is inextricably linked with the suppression and otherising of another woman, Bertha Mason, with racial and historical differences. This chapter also attempts to emphasize the limitations of universal womanhood and advocate a more introspective and inclusive approach for the feminist framework that accommodates historical, racial or cultural difference with a feminist literary interpretation intertwined with imperial history.
Bu bölüm, Mary Wollstonecraft'ın kadınlar için entelektüel eşitlik savunuculuğundan başlayarak evrensel kadınlığın postkolonyal eleştirisine kadar Batı feminist söyleminin evrimini inceliyor. Feminist çerçeveler, kadın hakları kavramını derinleştirmiş ve kadınlığı sosyal ve kültürel bir yapı olarak yeniden kavramsallaştırmış, aynı zamanda Avrupa-modern bağlamlara dayalı tarihsel varsayımları da korumuştur. Chandra Talpade Mohanty ve Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak gibi postkolonyal kuramcılardan elde edilen içgörülerden yararlanan bu bölüm, evrensel "kadın" kavramının ırksal kimlik, sömürge tarihi ve coğrafi konumdan kaynaklanan farklılıkları maskeleyebileceğini öne sürüyor. Bu teorik gerilimler, Charlotte Brontë'nin Jane Eyre adlı eserinin kapsamlı bir analiziyle ortaya konuyor. Geleneksel olarak kendini savunma üzerine bir feminist metin olarak görülen eser, kahramanın bağımsızlığının, ırksal ve tarihsel farklılıkları olan başka bir kadın olan Bertha Mason'ın bastırılması ve ötekileştirilmesiyle ayrılmaz bir şekilde bağlantılı olduğunu gösteriyor. Bu bölüm aynı zamanda evrensel kadınlık kavramının sınırlılıklarını vurgulamayı ve tarihsel, ırksal veya kültürel farklılıkları, emperyal tarihle iç içe geçmiş feminist bir edebi yorumla birleştiren, daha içsel ve kapsayıcı bir feminist çerçeve yaklaşımını savunmayı amaçlamaktadır.
Referanslar
Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (1995). The post-colonial studies reader. London: Routledge.
Beauvoir, S. (1956). The second sex. London: Jonathan Cape.
Brontë, C. (1999). Jane Eyre. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions.
Gilbert, S. M., Gubar, S. (1979). The madwoman in the attic: The woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Mohanty, C. T. (2003). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity. Durham: Duke University Press.
Sa’ar A. (2005). Postcolonial feminism, the politics of identification, and the liberal bargain. Gender and Society, 19 (5), 686. Doi: 10.1177/0891243205278405
Showalter, E. (1977). A literature of their own: British women novelists from Brontë to Lessing. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Showalter, E. C. (1981) Feminist criticism in the wilderness. Critical Inquiry, 8 (2).
Spivak, G. C. (1985). Three women’s texts and a critique of imperialism. Critical Inquiry, 12 (1), 243.
Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak? In Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg (eds) Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. London: Macmillan.
Tavassoli, S., Mirzapour, N. (2014). Postcolonial-Feminist elements in E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India. Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 17 (3), 69. Doi: 10.5782/2223-2621.2014.17.3.68
Wollstonecraft, M. (2004). A vindication of the rights of woman. London: Penguin Books.
Referanslar
Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (1995). The post-colonial studies reader. London: Routledge.
Beauvoir, S. (1956). The second sex. London: Jonathan Cape.
Brontë, C. (1999). Jane Eyre. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions.
Gilbert, S. M., Gubar, S. (1979). The madwoman in the attic: The woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Mohanty, C. T. (2003). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity. Durham: Duke University Press.
Sa’ar A. (2005). Postcolonial feminism, the politics of identification, and the liberal bargain. Gender and Society, 19 (5), 686. Doi: 10.1177/0891243205278405
Showalter, E. (1977). A literature of their own: British women novelists from Brontë to Lessing. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Showalter, E. C. (1981) Feminist criticism in the wilderness. Critical Inquiry, 8 (2).
Spivak, G. C. (1985). Three women’s texts and a critique of imperialism. Critical Inquiry, 12 (1), 243.
Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak? In Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg (eds) Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. London: Macmillan.
Tavassoli, S., Mirzapour, N. (2014). Postcolonial-Feminist elements in E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India. Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 17 (3), 69. Doi: 10.5782/2223-2621.2014.17.3.68
Wollstonecraft, M. (2004). A vindication of the rights of woman. London: Penguin Books.
