“BEYLER, GERÇEK AMERİKA BU MU?”: YUNG WING, SUI SIN FAR VE YONE NOGUCHI’DE ÖTEKİLEŞTİRME VE IRKÇILIK

Birçok Asyalı göçmen Kaliforniya Altın Hücumu nedeniyle on dokuzuncu yüzyılın ortalarından sonlarına doğru Amerika’ya varmış ve doğrudan beyaz Amerikalıların tepkisi ile karşılaşmıştır. Asyalı göçmenlerin dışlanma ve ırkçılık deneyimleri dönemin kurgusal ve kurgusal olmayan edebiyatında karşımıza çıkar. Bu makalede Yung Wing’in My Life in China and America (1909), Sui Sin Far’ın (Edith Maud Eaton) “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Euroasian” ve bazı yayımlanmış köşe yazıları (1910) ile Yone Noguchi’nin The American Diary of a Japanese Girl (1901) eserlerine odaklanılmaktadır. Bu üç eser Amerika’da Asyalılara karşı önyargının hâkim olduğu bir dönemde Asyalıların Amerikanlaşmasını temsil etmeleri açısından önem taşımaktadır. Bu makalede, Çinli Amerikalı ve Japon Amerikalı karakterlerin deneyimlerinin, beyazlığın bu eserlerdeki karakterler tarafından elde edilemez olduğunu öne sürdüğü tartışılmaktadır. Dahası, bu makale bu deneyimlerin topluma dahil etme ve ötekileştirme ikileminde işlediğini öne sürmektedir. Burada incelenen eserlerin bazılarında kurgusal olan ve olmayan karakterlerin kapsayıcı/dışlayıcı dili nasıl benimsedikleri incelenerek, makalede ırkçılık, vatandaşlık ve beyazlığın bu karakterlerin Amerikanlaşma süreçlerinin ayrılmaz bir parçası olduğu iddia edilmektedir. Ayrıca, Amerika’daki Çinli ve Japon göçmenlerin beyaz topluma asimile olamayan ötekileştirilmiş kişiler olarak muamele gördükleri bir dönemde, bu üç anlatının göçmenlerin yaşamlarına küçük bir pencere sunduğu da tartışılmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Asyalı Amerikalı; Yung Wing; Sui Sin Far; Yone Noguchi; Ötekileştirme; Beyazlık

“GENTLEMEN, IS THIS REAL AMERIKEY?”: MARGINALIZATION AND RACISM IN YUNG WING, SUI SIN FAR AND YONE NOGUCHI

Yogé Noguchi’s disillusioned character Morning Glory barely sets her foot on American soil as she exclaims “Gentlemen, is this real Amerikey?” (35). When she looks around her in great confusion to devour in the country she has dreamed of for so long, she cannot hide the first frustration of the immigrant upon arrival. Her “Meriken dream” becomes a “complete failure” (Noguchi, 35). Indeed, even though the heaven of opportunities promised the American Dream to immigrants, it did not protect them from the engrained racism in American society and the marginalization that accompanied it. Asian immigrants came in great numbers from mid- to late-nineteenth century due to the California Gold Rush, and they faced an immediate backlash by white Americans. The experiences of exclusion and racism also appear in fictional and non-fictional works of the period. This paper focuses on Yung Wing’s My Life in China and America (1909), Sui Sin Far’s (Edith Maud Eaton) Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Euroasian (1910), and Yogé Noguchi’s The American Diary of a Japanese Girl (1901). In the three works that are analyzed in this paper, the Chinese American and Japanese American characters suggest that acceptance by Americans into the society work on a conundrum of inclusion vs. marginalization.

Keywords:

Asian American, Yung Wing, Sui Sin Far, Yogē Noguchi, Marginalization Whiteness,

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