Implicated in Entangled Stories: Colonial Encounters, Immigration and the Representation of East Africa in Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Abstract

The article offers an analysis of colonialism, immigration, and the representation of East Africa in Desertion (2005) by Nobel-Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah. By analyzing the complex structure of the novel, the article demonstrates that its protagonists are implicated in multiple stories, which only appear to be incompatible, but in reality are deeply entangled. Applying a variety of postcolonial theories, I focus on Gurnah’s representation of the colonial encounter at the end of the 19th century in British East Africa. I show that the colonizers’ attitudes in the novel vary from an aggressive perspective on colonial conquest, through to the belief in the legitimacy of the imperial mission, to an ideology which Mary Louise Pratt defines in terms of anti-conquest and reciprocity. However, their uncontrollable, often somatic reactions, illustrate the ambivalence of colonial discourse and foreshadow the decline of colonialism. The article also argues that Gurnah’s vision of local interactions in East Africa at the turn of the 20th century is particularly complex and that the writer proposes cosmopolitan ethics. Yet, at the same time, Gurnah does not idealize East Africa and depicts prejudice and discrimination, particularly in relation to women of mixed parentage. Furthermore, the article discusses the cultural shock of the immigrant figure and the phenomena of mimicry and (de)colonization of the mind in Gurnah’s novel. Finally, it shows how Gurnah questions the concept of racial divisions, demonstrating their harmful effects in the 1960s both in Britain and in Zanzibar.

Projekt został sfinansowany ze środków Narodowego Centrum Nauki, przyznanych na podstawie decyzji numer DEC: 2019/33/B/HS2/00019.

Projekt został sfinansowany ze środków Narodowego Centrum Nauki, przyznanych na podstawie decyzji numer DEC: 2019/33/B/HS2/00019.