Kübra Kangüleç - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Kübra Kangüleç

DergiPark (Istanbul University), Jul 18, 2023

Abstract McDonagh's Banshees and the Irish Civil War as a Critique of Masculinity Writer and ... more Abstract
McDonagh's Banshees and the Irish Civil War as a Critique of Masculinity

Writer and director Martin McDonagh's movie "The Banshees of Inisherin" set in rural Ireland tells more than a middle-aged man’s existential crisis as the writer-director introduces a critical viewpoint on Irish history. In this context, the Irish Civil War of the 1920s, as well as the violent and masculine character of Irish nationalism evolving in reply to English colonialism, are historical issues that need to be well-known in order to understand McDonagh's political messages. The script, which is based on Colm and Pádraic's friendship ending abruptly, draws a very personal story to a national and collective level with its historical background and adds an allegorical meaning to the story. Mrs. McCormack’s character, who plays the role of a banshee, and her relationship with the myth of Mother Ireland, which has left its mark on the Irish intellectual world, reveals McDonagh's critical attitude towards the narrative of masculinity that dominates Irish nationalism while the film questions who the real banshees are. This article argues that McDonagh treats the Irish Civil War as a critique of masculinity, and draws connections between McDonagh's work and the works of 20th-century Irish literary figures such as Synge and Joyce who paved the way for this critical approach.

Ahi Evran Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 2019

As a Jamaican poet, Linton Kwesi Johnson is the forerunner of dub poetry that combines words with... more As a Jamaican poet, Linton Kwesi Johnson is the forerunner of dub poetry that combines words with reggae rhythm. Johnson establishes a postcolonial discourse of his own and uses his dub poetry to fight against the dominant Western discourse. His poetry tells stories from the black immigrant’s life by using a Creole English and the rhythmic music of Jamaican culture. Thus, his poetry voices the real immigrant experience in Britain in a highly dramatic way. This article focuses on two important poems by Johnson; “Inglan Is a Bitch” and “Sonnah’s Lettah”. In both poems, Johnson subverts the English language, and thus reveals his resistance to the colonial power in the level of language. Besides, both poems have the same political concern of revealing the British discrimination against the blacks. In this respect, Johnson’s poetry is surely his artistic tool against racism and serves to his political activism.

Fakülte dergisi, Jun 25, 2022

Extended Abstract This article makes a reading of contemporary British novelist Sophie Mackint... more Extended Abstract

This article makes a reading of contemporary British novelist Sophie Mackintosh’s dystopia Blue Ticket (2020) under the guidance of archetypal criticism in an attempt to reveal the author’s essentialist patriarchal discourse on women’s pregnancy. The author’s depiction of the protagonist Calla transgresses the borders of human body and exemplifies the “wild woman” archetype as discussed by psychoanalyst Clarissa P. Estés in her work Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype (1992). Estés draws a link between women and wolves to claim that modern women should break their chains in search for their suppressed creative energy. During this search, women get closer to wild nature, follow their instincts and discover the wisdom of old La Loba (the mystical wolf woman) featured in the old Mexican tales. In other words, Estés depicts a process of transformation for modern women who are entrapped by patriarchal society and pushes them towards the edges of the system in their search for freedom hidden in the matriarchal times. Much like Estés, Mackintosh also believes in the importance of free will and depicts a
transformation process for Calla by dragging her to the darkness of the forest. However, the author reduces the female creative energy into pregnancy and maintains the bestial images of woman’s pregnant body created within patriarchal discourse. Therefore, Mackintosh who sets out to question the patriarchal notions of womanhood, motherhood, pregnancy and woman’s free will is entrapped by her own essentialist discourse and unconsciously contributes to dystopian patriarchy of today’s world. The novel starts with Calla’s drawing of the blue ticket in the lot, which makes her destined to be a career woman. In this dystopian society shaped by strict roles, only women with white tickets are allowed to become mothers and wives. Yet, Calla challenges the system, breaks the law, and follows her “wild” instincts to get pregnant. As a result, she finds herself in a dangerous journey and decides to give birth to her baby at all costs. As Calla’s belly grows, she undergoes a physical, sociological and psychological transformation and acquires a bestial identity in the end. Calla’s illegitimate pregnant body is exposed to humiliations and male abuse until she finds shelter in a forest under Marisol’s leadership. Marisol, who is also pregnant, as well as some other exile women come together in the depths of a forest and establish a system based on sisterhood. Mackintosh makes a reference to the myth of matriarchal prehistory through this small group of women. Yet, the uncanny forest imagery evoking the maternal womb, grotesque depictions of pregnant
women and the foregrounded connection between women and wild animals reproduce the patriarchal imagery in Mackintosh’s novel. While Calla’s psychology and body fall into pieces, she continuously associates herself with wild animals and nature. Meanwhile, Marisol, a doctor in her former life, acts like the medicine woman of the old narratives through her wisdom and healing talents. Her depiction also lingers between divinity and devilry, in line with Estés’s claim that patriarchal discourse undermines the feminine energy in the primitive narratives by replacing the creative feminine characters with witches. Marisol’s secret agreement with the state that conditions her to report the fugitive pregnants in return for an exit visa from the country assures her paradoxical identity as a mother figure. Jung explains the mother archetype over the janus-faced Indian goddess Kali holding the power to create and destroy. Indeed, the janus-faced goddess imagery is available in many different mythologies, adding a dark dimension to a matriarchal culture. Mackintosh
also creates her story on this patriarchal heritage that considers the matriarchal period part of a suppressed irredeemable memory, which adds a feeling of uncanniness to the story. Calla’s moment of giving birth on her hands and knees, uttering bestial sounds heralds the completion of her transformation into a wild animal. The scene surely reminds one of Estés’s reference to the mother goddess Coatlicue in Aztec mythology, adding divinity to the scene. However, the divinity of Mackintosh’s pregnant women always hold the potential to be labelled as monstrous as well, and thus they are condemned to wander on the outskirts of civilization as “wild” women or ghosts and lost goddesses.

Kübra KANGÜLEÇ COŞKUN
DTCF Dergisi 62.1(2022): 167-186

Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 2023

ÖZ Yazar ve yönetmen Martin McDonagh’ın İrlanda taşrasında geçen “The Banshees of Inisherin” film... more ÖZ
Yazar ve yönetmen Martin McDonagh’ın İrlanda taşrasında geçen “The Banshees of Inisherin” filmi orta yaşlı bir adamın varoluşsal krizinden çok daha fazlasını izleyicilere sunuyor ve McDonagh biten bir dostluk üzerinden İrlanda tarihine eleştirel bir bakış açısı getiriyor. Bu bağlamda, 1920’li yıllara damga vuran İrlanda İç Savaşı ve İrlanda’nın İngiliz sömürgeciliğine cevaben geliştirdiği, şiddetle şekillenen milliyetçiliğinin eril karakteri, McDonagh’ın siyasi mesajlarını anlamak için iyi bilinmesi gereken çetrefilli meseleler olarak ön plana çıkıyor. Colm ve Pádraic’in aniden biten arkadaşlığı üzerine kurulu senaryo, tarihi arka planıyla, oldukça kişisel bir hikâyeyi ulusal ve kolektif bir düzleme çekerek, filme alegorik bir anlam katıyor. Filmde banshee rolünü yerine getirerek, ölüm çığırtkanlığı yapan Bayan McCormack karakteri ve bu karakterin İrlanda düşün dünyasına damgasını vurmuş İrlanda Ana mitiyle olan ilişkisi, McDonagh’ın İrlanda milliyetçiliğindeki hâkim erkeklik anlatısına eleştirel tavrını ortaya koyuyor ve film, ölüm perilerinin aslında kim olduğunu sorguluyor. Bu makale McDonagh’ın İrlanda İç Savaşını, bir erkeklik eleştirisi olarak ele aldığını iddia ederken, Synge ve Joyce gibi İrlanda tarihine eleştirel yaklaşımın önünü açan 20. yüzyıl İrlandalı yazarlarla, McDonagh eserleri arasındaki bağlantıyı ortaya koymayı amaçlıyor.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Martin McDonagh, İnisherin’in Ölüm Perileri, İrlanda tarihi, Eril şiddet, Erkeklik

Abstract
McDonagh's Banshees and the Irish Civil War as a Critique of Masculinity

Edebiyatta ve Kültürde Korkunun 8 Hali, 2023

Journal of British Literature and Culture, 2023

Le Fanu's "Carmilla" (1872) is a multi-layered novella that can be read from different perspectiv... more Le Fanu's "Carmilla" (1872) is a multi-layered novella that can be read from different perspectives because it touches upon political and social issues under the cover of horror fiction. While the political allegory of the story highlights the English oppression of Ireland, its social aspect deals with the "woman problem" of the Victorian age. These two topics are closely related to each other since the ideology of colonisation is also based on the woman (colonised) / man (coloniser) dichotomy. This study focuses on the gender representation of the Carmilla character and her lesbianism that threatens the political and moral order set by the white Anglo-Saxon man. According to Protestant male authorities, her vampiric power must be destroyed for the maintenance of order in society. If Carmilla, of Austrian origin, is taken as the representative of Catholicism and Ireland, the threat hidden within her supernatural beauty and existence becomes more meaningful. In this respect, Le Fanu's choice of a female vampire is multi-functional because she not only represents "immorality" in the eye of the Victorian reader with her overt lesbian desires, but also helps the author deal with the colonial history of Ireland over the image of a woman's body. In this article, Carmilla's fall from grace (her transformation from an angel into a monster in the eye of men) is tracked down and how she comes to represent all the "evil" that runs counter to the principles of the white Anglo-Saxon man who stands for reason and power in colonial narratives is revealed.

DTCF Dergisi, 2022

[Extended abstract in English is available in the document] Britanyalı yazar Sophie Mackintosh... more [Extended abstract in English is available in the document]

Britanyalı yazar Sophie Mackintosh Mavi Bilet (2020) başlıklı distopik romanında kendilerine biçilmiş roller içinde sıkışıp kalmış kadınların özgürlük arayışlarını anlatır. Mackintosh'un kadınlara dayatılan yasaya karşı gelerek hamile kalan ana karakteri Calla, bastırdığı annelik arzusunun peşinden gider ve bu uğurda ziksel, sosyolojik ve psikolojik bir dönüşüm geçirir. Yazarın insan bedeninin sınırlarını zorlayan Calla tasviri Clarissa P. Estés'in Kurtlarla Koşan Kadınlar (1992) eserindeki "vahşi kadın" arketipini örnekler. Ancak, bu örnekleme Estés'in bahsettiği ve yaratıcılıkla eşleştirdiği olumlu bir dişil enerjiyi yansıtmaz. Aksine, karnı büyüdükçe daha da toplum dışına itilen Calla romanın sonuna doğru yabani bir hayvana, bir ucubeye dönüşerek, ataerkil imgelemdeki korkunç anne tasvirlerini pekiştirir. Bu bağlamda, Mackintosh'un annelik, öteki kadın bedeni, cinsiyet rolleri gibi konuları sorgulamaya niyetlenen romanı Antik Yunan'dan günümüze süregelen, kadını doğayla ve ilkellikle ilişkilendiren özcü yaklaşımın kıskacından kurtulamaz ve kadının başkaldırısıyla gelen değişimi karanlık, medeniyet dışı ve korkutucu bir mekânda, hayvani imgelerle kurgular. Calla sistemin uçlarında, ormanın karanlığında "uluyarak" kendini yeniden yaratan yabanıl ve hayvansı, yani şeytani olarak görülen kadın "öteki"nin bir temsiline dönüşür. Hamilelikle birlikte ontolojik sınırları geçen ve gittikçe vahşileşen bu kadın Estés'in eski anlatılar yoluyla keşfettiği yaratıcı dişil gücü, tekinsiz ve korkutucu bir güce indirger. Bu bağlamda, bu makale Mackintosh'un yarattığı karakterleri arketipçi eleştiri ışığında inceleyecek ve vahşi doğayı kadınla eş tutarak, her ikisini de insan medeniyetinin dışına yerleştiren yazarın aslında oldukça ataerkil olan söylemini ortaya koyacaktır.

English Abstract:

In her dystopian novel Blue Ticket (2020) British novelist Sophie Mackintosh entrapped women's search for freedom in a society shaped by strict gender roles. Calla, the protagonist who gets pregnant by breaking the law, follows her suppressed maternal instinct and thus undergoes a physical, sociological, and psychological
transformation process. The author's depiction of Calla transgresses the borders of the human body and exemplifies the “wild woman” archetype discussed by psychoanalyst Clarissa P. Estés in her work Women Who Run with the Wolves (1992). Yet, the Calla example does not reflect the positive and productive feminine power. On the contrary, Calla is becoming more isolated as her pregnancy continues. She turns into a wild animal and a monstrous other in the end, reinforcing the depictions of monstrous mother figures in patriarchal imagination. In this context, Mackintosh's novel aiming to question notions like motherhood, woman's body, and gender roles falls into the trap of the essentialist approach associating woman with nature and primitivism. Calla is the representation of the bestial woman, the feminine “other”, as she is giving birth to herself by howling in the darkness of the forest and wandering on the margins of society. This woman character who is transgressing the ontological borders and getting wilder during her pregnancy degrades the creative feminine power discovered by Estés into an uncanny and threatening power. In this context, this article is an attempt to read Mackintosh's characters in the light of archetypal criticism to reveal the patriarchal discourse embedded in the novel that associates women with wild nature by pushing them outside the borders of humanity and human civilization.

Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 2018

Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh revolves around the Moor who needs to record his genealogic... more Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh revolves around the Moor who needs to record his genealogical history in order to survive at a madman's castle and restore his mother's reputation. While re-telling his family's story that originated in Granada, parallel to the history of post-independence India, the Moor makes use of his mother Aurora's magical realist paintings that combine official History with individual histories. Aurora, the oppressive mother figure, dominates the Moor's narrative through her paintings entitled "The Moor Cycle" and manipulates his story-telling and identity-formation process. In "The Moor Cycle" paintings, she extols the Moor's deformed body and associates him with the last Sultan Boabdil of Granada. Reshaping the flow of history, the mother-son relationship and its dynamics are as important as the historical backdrop of the narrative. This parallelism between individual histories and the history of India necessitates an allegorical reading, which gives the key role to 'Aurora the mother.' Rushdie's choice of Aurora as the main source of his postmodern narrative and her haunting influence on the Moor's identity-formation echo the Mother India myth promoted during the Indian nation-building process. The love-hate relationship between the Moor and Aurora, and its effecs on the Moor's identity will be analyzed by referring to Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection. Rushdie's association of magical realism with the maternal semiotic chora, his metaphorical use of the Moor's grotesque body and the abject figures' potential of breaking the world order based on the law of the father will also be highlighted within the framework of Kristeva's theory. Therefore, Aurora's paintings will be read as a feminine form of history-writing that challenges the paternal discourse that writes the official History.

Hacettepe University Journal of Faculty of Letters, 2019

Interactions ISSN:1300-574-X, 2019

Salman Rushdie, famous for his post-structuralist approach to history, argues that both fiction a... more Salman Rushdie, famous for his post-structuralist approach to history, argues that both fiction and history are human constructs, and thus they are subjective, limited and unreliable in nature. Juxtaposing fictional and historical elements in the same storyline, the author creates a new textual space where he can undermine the authority of history texts over fiction. This textual space is dominated by story tellers as proving the power of storytelling even in the history writing process. The Enchantress of Florence, telling the magical stories rooted in the history of the Mughal Empire and the Florentine Republic, supplies Rushdie with the necessary space to question the concept of the real, its production process, and the power and knowledge relationship. In this context, this article will explore Rushdie's use of storytelling, juxtaposition of real and fictional worlds, and intermingling of historical documents and magical stories in the novel to understand the manipulative role of history writers in the history writing process.

Pamukkale Sosyal Bilimler Üniversitesi Dergisi, 2018

The land/woman metaphor has always been an effective tool to define Ireland and Irish nationalist... more The land/woman metaphor has always been an effective tool to define Ireland and Irish nationalists aligned their feminized land with patriarchal discourse and created the iconic Mother Ireland in the image of the Virgin Mary. Known for his anti-Revivalist arguments, James Joyce reveals that the cult of Mother Ireland must be demolished to reach the essence of Irish identity hidden in the "abject" maternal body. Therefore, in his struggle against colonialism, Joyce turns his attention to women, believing that Irishness starts with the exploration of a woman's body. Using Kristeva's abjection theory to re-interpret Joyce's position as the "abject" child of Irish literature, this paper aims to analyze the writer's prominent women characters in Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and in Ulysses in parallel to his search for an identity as an Irish writer and his anti-colonial struggle against patriarchy.

Bernardine Evaristo’s The Emperor’s Babe tells the story of Zuleika, a Sudanese girl, and her sea... more Bernardine Evaristo’s The Emperor’s Babe tells the story of Zuleika, a Sudanese girl, and her search for an identity in the white man’s world. Zuleika seeks a place in the symbolic by her avant garde poetry that transgresses the structural and thematic borders of epic writing. The transvestite Venus character attains a maternal role in Zuleika’s journey into the self and guides her into the carnivalesque world of the semiotic realm. Therefore, Zuleika’s self-discovery in the semiotic chora makes a Kristevan reading possible; Venus’s feminine and pre-linguistic world that is abjected by patriarchy can be associated with the semiotic chora and becomes the way of resurrection for Zuleika who is an abject figure as a black woman in Roman Londinium. In this paper, Zuleika’s crave for an identity, her attempts to form a separate “self” and her poetry as a way of survival will be studied in parallel to Kristeva’s theory of subjectivity.

ABSTRACT KANGÜLEÇ, Kübra. The Treatment of Official History In the Context of Magical Realism: ... more ABSTRACT

KANGÜLEÇ, Kübra. The Treatment of Official History In the Context of Magical Realism:
Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh and The Enchantress of Florence, M.A. Dissertation, Ankara, 2012.

This M.A. dissertation aims to study the treatment of official history in the context of magical realism with reference to Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh (1995) and The Enchantress of Florence (2008). Rushdie’s fictions which are mostly written in the mode of magical realism can be studied both from post-colonial and postmodern perspectives due to the mode’s challenge against hierarchies and binary oppositions. Since magical realism aims to unveil different realities and perspectives by transgressing the boundary between the fact and the fantasy, Rushdie makes use of the mode to undermine the authority of official history and to introduce individual histories which are intermingled with myths, superstitions, legends and metaphysical characters. As history is retold together with magical stories, Rushdie both highlights the fictional nature of history writing and questions the reliability of history as a grand narrative.
Composed of five chapters, this thesis attempts to analyse Rushdie’s use of magical realism mainly for postmodern purposes. The Introduction part concentrates on the development of magical realism as well as its post-colonial and postmodern characteristics. The First Chapter scrutinizes Rushdie’s career as a writer and his specific views about history writing. The Second Chapter is an analysis of The Moor’s Last Sigh with a special focus on Rushdie’s play with history, his use of magic to point out the grotesque nature of man and his fictional sources of history. The Third Chapter analyses the use of magical realism in The Enchantress of Florence by exploring Rushdie’s historical characters and their role in history writing process, the inclusion of magic into historical accounts and the place of magic during the Renaissance period. The Conclusion compares and contrasts these two novels, and draws attention to Rushdie’s different purposes of using magical realism in these two distinctive novels.

Key Words: Magical Realism, Postmodernism, Post-colonialism, Historiography, Salman
Rushdie, The Moor’s Last Sigh and The Enchantress of Florence

Books by Kübra Kangüleç

Edebiyatın Ucubeleri, 2021

PHOENIX YAYINEVİ (Derleme Kitap) (Editörler: Pelin Doğan, Rahime Çokay-Nebioğlu ve Kübra Kangüleç... more PHOENIX YAYINEVİ (Derleme Kitap) (Editörler: Pelin Doğan, Rahime Çokay-Nebioğlu ve Kübra Kangüleç-Coşkun ile birlikte), 2021.

Bu kitap, sınırlarda gezinen ötekilerin peşine düşmüştür. Zira ucubelik, bütün iktidar sahiplerinin politik tahayyülünü ve söylemini inşa eder. Ulus devletler, ucubeler ile sürdürülen hegemonik mücadeleler sayesinde var olurlar. Patriyarka ve heteronormativite de “makbul” olmayanları işaret eder önce. Nihayetinde cinsiyetleri, bedenleri, cinsel yönelimleri, etnisiteleri, sınıfları, dini inançları, politik aidiyetleri vb. kimlikleri ile “meşru” normların dışında kalanlar ucube imgesi altında birleşir. Bu çalışma, egemenlerin “ucube” ilan ettiği ötekilerin; İngiliz, Amerikan ve İrlanda edebiyatındaki politik konumlanışlarıyla ilgilenmektedir. Ucubelere dair hegemonik kodları deşifre etmesi ve bu imgenin edebiyata sirayetini göstermesi çalışmayı daha da özel kılmaktadır.

Thesis Chapters by Kübra Kangüleç

PhD Dissertation, 2017

Anne figürü, İrlanda kültüründe her zaman alegorik bir öneme sahiptir ve "İrlanda Ana" karakterin... more Anne figürü, İrlanda kültüründe her zaman alegorik bir öneme sahiptir ve "İrlanda Ana" karakterini model alır. İrlanda topraklarındaki İngiliz sömürgesi, iki ülke arasındaki ilişkilerin cinsiyetçi bir söylem üzerine kurulmasına sebep olmuş, bu söylemde İngiltere'ye sömürgeci baba, İrlanda'ya ise sömürülen kadın rolleri biçilmiştir. İrlanda kadın/toprak mecazıyla tanımlanmış ve İrlanda milliyetçileri "İrlanda Ana" simgesini yaratarak, ona tarihsel ve ideolojik anlamlar yüklemişlerdir. Ataerkil milliyetçiliğin ürünü olan "İrlanda Ana" İrlanda'nın bağımsızlık mücadelesi için ilham kaynağı olmuştur, ancak çıkışı egemen sömürge söylemine dayalı bu anne figürü İrlandalılar için baskılayıcı bir imgeye dönüşerek, özgün İrlanda kimliği yaratılmasını engellemiştir. Kimlik oluşumunun ana rahminde (semiyotik kora) başladığını savunan Julia Kristeva, annenin çocuğun psikoseksüel gelişiminde çok önemli olduğunu vurgular. Çocuk önce anneyi keşfetmeli sonra sembolik düzende kimliğini inşa etmek için onu reddetmelidir. Çocuğun bu inkârı annenin sembolik düzenden atıldığı anlamına gelmemelidir, tam tersine Kristeva metinlerinde çocuğun öznelliği için hem semiyotik hem de sembolik unsurları bünyesinde birleştirmesi gerektiğini söyler. Ancak, ondokuzuncu yüzyıl İrlanda milliyetçileri ataerkil söylemi kullanarak, "İrlanda Ana" için imkânsız bir bakire anne imgesi yaratmış, kadının iğrenç (abject) olarak niteledikleri bedenini ataerkil düzene dâhil etme yolunu bulmuşlardır. Bakire anne semiyotik rahmini İrlandalı çocuklarının keşfine açamadığı için onsekiz ve ondokuzuncu yüzyıllarda oluşturulan İrlanda milliyetçiliği de sömürgeci zihniyetin kullandığı cinsiyetçi söylemde sıkışıp kalmıştır. İngiliz sömürgeci babanın baskısı ve sevgi dolu bir baba figürü eksikliği İrlanda öznelliğinin gelişimini engellemiştir. Ondokuzuncu yüzyıl itibarıyla, yitik ebeveyn ve abject çocuk motifleri İrlanda edebiyatında sıklıkla kullanılmaya başlanmış ve İrlandalıların özgün bir ulusal kimlik inşası için gerek duydukları işlevsel aile arayışlarını ortaya koymuştur. Edna O'Brien'ın Kasaba Kızları (1960), Patrick McCabe'in Plüton'da Kahvaltı (1998) ve Colm Tóibín'in Denizfenerindeki Işık (1999) eserlerini inceleyen bu çalışma, sömürgeci söylemin İrlandalılar üzerindeki kısıtlayıcı etkisini, çocukların sömürge sonrası dönemdeki benlik arayışlarını ve annenin semiyotik dünyasını keşfedişlerini Kristeva'nın öznellik kuramıyla açıklamaya çalışır.