Dostoyevsky'nin öz arayışında ötekinin kullanımı

The aim of this study is to explore Russia's perception of the self and the role of the other in the establishment of Russianness. The central focus is made on the person who interpreted Russia's Janus-faced nature, duality and broadness as constitutive qualities of Russian national identity - Fyodor Dostoevsky. The theoretical foundation of the dissertation is Iver Neumann's concept of the self/other nexus and Mikhail Bakhtin's vision on Dostoevsky's works as polyphonic and dialogical. To examine Dostoevsky's use of the other in search of the self we address some of Dostoevskys novels to elaborate on the types of the self/other nexus he used to construct national identity. The analysis reveals that Dostoevsky's search of the self engages images of the external other personified in Europeans (dominant other) and Ottomans (common other), and the internal other represented by the Russian peasants (social other), non-Orthodox members (religious other) of the Russian Empire, and disbelievers in general (non-religious other). Examples taken from the novels demonstrate how Dostoevsky used the alienated and split Russian self and various types of the other to reestablish the Russian nation's integrity and define a national and universal identity based on the ability of the Russian soul to reincarnate in itself an alien nationality, comprehend the manners of different peoples, excuse and reconcile differences, eliminate all their contradictions without any racial discrimination and unite in brotherly love. Relying on these practices Dostoevsky creates the image of vsechelovek (pan-human) capable of brotherly love for the other, a true Christian proud of his nationality and someone who looks at the other, both internal and external, as another equal self. Keywords: self/other nexus, external and internal other, self, national identity, Dostoevsky, pan-human, universal brotherhood.