Madun Konuşuyor: Anna Weamys’in A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia’sına Foucault’cu Bir Bakış

Bu makale Anna Weamys’in A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia eserinde hizmetçi Mopsa’nın Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’ın madunun konuşup konuşamayacağı hususundaki sorusuna nasıl olumsuz bir cevap oluşturduğunu inceler. Çalışma, Michel Foucault’nun iktidar ve direniş düşüncesi doğrultusunda, Spivak’ın önerdiğinin aksine, madunun sesini yükseltebileceğini ve direniş gösterebileceğini ortaya koyar. Sir Philip Sidney’in The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia eserinde kraliyet üyeleri arasında Mopsa’ya konuşma fırsatı verilmez, fakat Weamys, Sidney’in yorumunu altüst eder ve onun eylem ve sesini duyurmasına olanak vererek maduniyetini aşma fırsatı sağlar. Bu çerçevede, Anna Weamys’in romansı, Foucault’nun iktidar teorisi bağlamında, Spivak’ın madunun tanınmasının imkânsızlığı hususundaki varsayımına karşı bir meydan okuma olarak değerlendirilebilir.

The Subaltern Speaks in Anna Weamys’ A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia: A Foucauldian Perspective

This paper examines how the servant Mopsa in Anna Weamys’ A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia provides a negative answer to Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s question whether the subaltern can speak. In accordance with Michel Foucault’s thoughts on power and resistance, it intends to reveal that the subaltern, contrary to what Spivak proposes, is able to raise voice and demonstrate resistance. Mopsa has not been given the chance to speak among the royals in Sir Philip Sidney’s The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, but Weamys deconstructs Sidney’s version and provides Mopsa the opportunity to transcend subalternity as she asserts her action and voice. Within this framework, Anna Weamys’ romance can be read, in the context of Foucault’s theory on power, as a challenge against Spivak’s assumption which contends that the subaltern is not recognizable.

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