Representations of Heterotopic Spaces in Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’S Plays Behsharam and Khandan
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REPRESENTATIONS OF HETEROTOPIC SPACES IN GURPREET KAUR BHATTI’S PLAYS BEHSHARAM AND KHANDAN A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ABDÜLHÜDA ÖZTOP IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF ARTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AUGUST 2019 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bahar Öz Director (Acting) I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Sağın Şimşek Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dürrin Alpakın Martinez Caro Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assist. Prof. Dr. Elif Öztabak Avcı (METU, FLE) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dürrin Alpakın Martinez-Caro (METU, FLE) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zeynep Zeren Atayurt-Fenge (Ankara Uni., İDE) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name: Abdülhüda Öztop Signature : iii ABSTRACT REPRESENTATIONS OF HETEROTOPIC SPACES IN GURPREET KAUR BHATTI’S PLAYS BEHSHARAM AND KHANDAN Öztop, Abdülhüda M.A., English Literature Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dürrin Alpakın Martinez-Caro August 2019, 94 pages Heterotopia has always caused controversy among the critics ever since Foucault’s use. However, it has also been adopted to theatre and applied in exploring theatre’s spatiality. This thesis aims at bringing up to the surface the spatiality of two plays Behsharam (2001) and Khandan (2014) by a contemporary British Sikh playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti because heterotopic spaces in the plays enable the British audience to think about an alternate ordering of the society. The spatial dimension of these two plays provides with two distinct poles contrasting each other and contesting contemporary issues. Between the opposing poles heterotopias emerge leading to a re-thinking of the immigrants and their experiences in Britain. While in the first play heterotopias are generated around the members of an almost disentangled Sikh family, the latter grants such spaces around a Sikh family as a whole providing a comparison to a white family. Even though the heterotopias generated through the plays have common characteristics with Foucault’s heterotopia, they have more in common with the later critics’ concerns. Scholars such as Lefebvre, Harvey and most contemporarily Joanne Tompkins, who adjusted the term for use in theatre studies blend the term with iv social and cultural politics. Therefore, it is inevitable to establish a connection between heterotopias in the plays and the social politics regarding the immigrant communities, particularly the British Sikh community. This thesis, consequently, aims to put forth the heterotopias emerging in Bhatti’s recent plays shedding light onto the social and cultural politics concerning the Sikh community. Keywords: heterotopia, space in theatre, Michel Foucault, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, immigrant. v ÖZ GURPREET KAUR BHATTI’NİN BEHSHARAM VE KHANDAN ADLI OYUNLARINDAKİ HETEROTOPİK MEKANLARIN TEMSİLİYETLERİ Öztop, Abdülhüda Yüksek Lisans, İngiliz Edebiyatı Danışman: Doç. Dr. Dürrin Alpakın Martinez Caro Ağustos 2019, 94 sayfa Mekân çalışmalarında, heterotopya Foucault’nun terimi kullanımından beri her zaman teorisyenler arasında tartışma sebebi olmuştur. Fakat o zamandan beri terim tiyatro çalışmalarına uyarlanmış ve tiyatronun mekânsallarını keşfetmede etkin bir şekilde kullanılmıştır. Bu tez de İngiltereli Sih bir oyun yazarı olan Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’nin iki oyunu Behsharam (2001) ve Khandan (2014)’ın mekânsallarını yüzeye çıkarmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu oyunların mekânsal boyutu birbirine tezat oluşturan ve güncel meselelere meydan okuyan iki kutup oluşturmaktadır. Bu karşıt kutupların arasında heterotopik mekânlar oluşmakta ve İngiltereli izleyiciyi göçmenler ve onların İngiltere’deki deneyimlerini yeniden düşünmeye teşvik etmektedir. İlk oyunda heterotopik mekân neredeyse dağılmakta olan bir Sih ailenin üyeleri etrafında ortaya çıkmaktayken ikinci oyun benzer bir mekânı beyaz bir aile ile mukayese etme olanağıyla başka bir Sih ailenin bütün olarak etrafında sunmaktadır. Bu oyunlardaki heterotopyalar Foucault’nun ilkin keşfettiği ile ortak özellikler taşıyor olmalarına rağmen daha sonraki eleştirmenlerin çalışmalarıyla daha fazla ortak paydada buluşmaktadırlar. Lefebvre, Harvey ve güncel olarak ise terimi tiyatro çalışmalarına uyarlamış olan Joanne Tompkins gibi vi akademisyenler bu terimi toplumsal ve kültürel bağlamla birleştirmektedirler. Bundan dolayı oyunlardaki heterotopyalar ve göçmen toplulukları, özellikle İngiltere’deki Sih göçmenler ile ilgili siyasi gelişmeler arasında bağlantı kurmak kaçınılmaz olmaktadır. Bu tez Bhatti’nin Sih toplumu ile alakalı toplumsal ve kültürel sorunlara ışık tutan iki oyunundaki heterotopyaları ortaya çıkarmayı hedeflemektedir. Anahtar kelimeler: heterotopya, tiyatroda mekân, Michel Foucault, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, göçmen. vii to my beloved mother, Dayêcan… viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dürrin Alpakın Martinez-Caro who supported and encouraged me during this process with her endless tolerance and help, and without whom I would never be able to complete this thesis. I also would like to thank the jury members Assist. Prof. Dr. Elif Öztabak Avcı and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zeynep Zeren Atayurt-Fenge. I have to admit that I am obliged all of my friends amongst whom three need mentioning particularly; Dr. Pelin Doğan who introduced me to the plays of Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti and who always supported and sided with me whole-heartedly, Semih Murat Gönen who made me familiar with the term ‘heterotopia’ for the first time and lastly Deniz Göksu with whom I spent almost each and every day while processing on this thesis. Finally I would like to thank my family, especially my mother, without whose support and reliance it would be impossible for me to overcome any difficulty that I have encountered throughout my life. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ....................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... iv ÖZ ...................................................................................................................... vi DEDICATION .................................................................................................. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ............................................................. 7 2.1. Foucault’s Heterotopia ........................................................................... 7 2.2. Heterotopia After Foucault .................................................................. 15 2.2.1. Theatre’s Heterotopias or Tompkins’ Formulation Based on Hetherington’s Concerns .............................................................. 18 3. HETEROTOPIAS IN BEHSHARAM ........................................................ 31 3.1. Heterotopic Space Generated Around the Migrant ............................... 34 3.2. Heterotopic Space Generated Around Jaspal......................................... 35 3.3. Heterotopic Space Generated Around Sati ............................................ 45 3.4. Heterotopic Space Generated Around the Sikh Family ......................... 52 x 4. HETEROTOPIAS IN KHANDAN ............................................................... 56 4.1 Heterotopic Space Generated Around Family ......................................... 56 4.2 Heterotopic Space Generated Around Gill Family ................................... 58 4.3 Heterotopic Space Generated Around the White Family .......................... 66 5. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 73 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 78 APPENDICES APPENDIX A: TÜRKÇE ÖZET / TURKISH SUMMARY.................................. 83 APPENDIX B: TEZ İZİN FORMU / THESIS PERMISSON FORM ................... .94 xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Space has always been a vital element for theatre and the contemporary British theatre plays are no exceptions. When one studies theatre, one should remember “the premise that space is a proper value of theatre, part and parcel of what it is and how it works” and it is worth pointing out that even though it has existed there since the beginning, “the function of space has gone relatively unnoticed” in the theatre studies (Rehm p. 1). Uncovered for centuries, the value of space has recently been paid attention to and studies on spatiality of theatre plays have been flourishing since it became inevitable for the critics of the field to discover the potential of it in regards to the locations where