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HARRIET E. WILSON’IN OUR NIG: SKETCHES FROM THE LIFE OF A FREE BLACK ADLI ROMANINDA KUZEY’İN IRKÇI İDEOLOJİSİNIİN YIKILMASI

SUBVERSION OF NORTHERN RACIST IDEOLOGY IN HARRIET E. WILSON’S OUR NIG: SKETCHES FROM THE LIFE OF A FREE BLACK

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DOI: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.9761/JASSS_812
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Abstract (2. Language): 
This paper tries to explore the racial ideologies in Harriet E. Wilson’s Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859). The novel is significant in that it is considered the first one published by a black woman in the United States. That it delineates ‚slavery’s shadow‛ in the antebellum North, which is known to be abolitionist, makes it more significant. It criticizes the racial ideology embodied by such disturbing components as the blurring of black/mulatto lines, the exploitation of Christianity and the unreliability of black people towards one another. The fact that racist white woman exerts power over the black one and the sympathetic attitudes of white men towards the subject prove to be insufficient are also shocking realities within that society known to be patriarchal and supports the racial ideology; that is when race is in question, patriarchy keeps silent. The novel begins with a six-year-old mulatto protagonist (Al) Frado, an intelligent and pretty girl, abandoned by her white mother to the Bellmont’s house, where she is cruelly labored, beaten and berated by Mrs. Bellmont, who is a piousChristian. She endures until her majority and obtains her freedom in a weak condition. She marries a fugitive slave, has a son and then is abandoned. She writes an autobiographical novel for supporting herself but it becomes a criticism on the hypocrisy of the abolitionist movement and on the Northern racism. Wilson exhibits an image of the North that can be identified with the South and hints that the Northerners are not innocent in blacks’ ongoing persecution, because of their indifference and lack of prudence. While illustrating the injustice of indentured servitude, Wilson puts forward the idea that the abolitionist discourse must be understood on the individual and social levels first. She dreams of a society of equality where blacks and mulattos have economic freedom and loved, too.
Abstract (Original Language): 
Bu makalede Harriet E. Wilson’ın Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859) adlı romanında ırksal ideolojiler incelenmeye çalışılmaktadır. Roman, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde zenci bir kadın yazar tarafından yayınlandığı düşünülen ilk roman olması açısından önemlidir. Kölelik karşıtı olarak bilinen İç Savaş’tan önceki Kuzey’de ‚köleliğin karartısı‛nı betimlemesi romanı daha da önemli kılmaktadır. Roman, ırksal ideolojiyi zenci/melez sınırlarının bulanıklaştırılması, Hıristiyanlığın istismarı ve zencilerin birbirlerine karşı güvenilmez oluşları gibi rahatsız edici öğelerle eleştirmektedir. Irkçı beyaz kadının zenci olan üzerinde güç kullanması ve beyaz erkeklerin hür olmayana karşı olumlu ama yetersiz kalan tutumları da ataerkil bilinen toplumun şaşırtıcı gerçekleridir ve ırksal ideolojiyi desteklemektedir; yani, ırk söz konusu olunca ataerkil düzen susmaktadır. Roman, altı yaşında zeki ve şirin melez bir kız olan (Al)Frado’nun beyaz annesi tarafından Bellmont’ların evine terk edilmesiyle başlar. Dindar bir Hıristiyan olan Bayan Bellmont onu zalimce çalıştırır, döver ve azarlar. Rüştüne kadar bunlara sabreder ama hastalıklı olarak özgürlüğüne kavuşur. Kaçak bir köleyle evlenir, oğlu olur ve terk edilir. Para kazanmak için otobiyografik bir roman yazar ama bu, kölelik karşıtı hareketin ikiyüzlülüğü ve Kuzey’in ırkçılığı üzerine bir eleştiri niteliği kazanır. Wilson, Güney ile özdeşleştirilebilen bir Kuzey imajı çizer ve zencilerin süregelen zulme maruz kalmalarında kayıtsızlık ve sağduyusuzluklarından dolayı Kuzeyliler’in masum olmadığını ima eder. Sözleşmeli kölelik sisteminin adaletsizliğini gösterirken, Wilson kölelik karşıtı söylemin önce bireysel ve toplumsal temelde anlaşılması gerektiği fikrini ileri sürer. Zencilerin ve melezlerin de ekonomik özgürlüğe sahip olduğu ve sevildiği, eşitliğe dayalı bir toplum düşler.
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