Violence and Postcoloniality in Yasar Kemal's Memed, My Hawk

Abstract

Emerging from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey occupies a unique position as a post-imperial state, complicating the Eurocentric definitions of postcolonialism. The purpose of this paper is to explore the way contemporary Turkish literature addresses the relationship between culture and violence in shaping national identity. In pre-modern settings as observed in Yasar Kemal's Mehmet My Hawk, the rural landscape presents an ostensible clash between national and tribal identity, complicating the legitimacy of authority. Kemal's novel takes place in the countryside, mainly away from the literate society. The absence of culture, the novel seems to suggest, produces violence. The state authority, in this case, is replaced by local hudlums who rule as they please. In this case, the site of cultural production literally becomes the site of violence. By focusing on this specific novel, this paper articulates the way Turkish literature uses postcolonial tools to complicate the definition of postcoloniality--not only by expanding the geographical scope of the field, but also by challenging some of the theoretical models embedded in postcolonial studies related to violence and resistance.