Deconstructing the Tourist’s (Colonizer’s) Gaze in A Small Place

Bakır C.

JOURNAL OF NARRATIVE AND LANGUAGE STUDIES, cilt.5, sa.8, ss.38-45, 2017 (Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 5 Sayı: 8
  • Basım Tarihi: 2017
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF NARRATIVE AND LANGUAGE STUDIES
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, MLA - Modern Language Association Database
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.38-45
  • Marmara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This article explores how, in A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid opens the colonial history of Antigua to negotiation through a constantly changing gaze in order to deconstruct the colonial and neo-colonial hegemony on the island. By  incorporating  the  issue  of  "gaze"  into  the  discourse  of  colonialism  and reversing the privileged position the white  western  supremacists  have  held  over  the  colonized  subjects,  Kincaid  obliges  the  American  or  European  tourist to focalize the colonial discourse through the eyes of the oppressed and exploited subjects. However, while subverting the superiority of the white western tourist whose presence on the island stands for the representation of the colonial heritage, Kincaid describes both Antigua and Native Antiguans, both of whom are constructed in relation to England and English colonizers respectively, as an image, a construction of the white man rather than a land and people with a distinct history. Thus, by focusing on shifting viewpoints, the constant change in tone and voice as well as the various levels of narrative elements throughout the text, this study aims to explore how Kincaid  first  deconstructs  and  then  redefines  the  colonial  history  and  identity  from  an  anti-establishment perspective in A Small Place.