Chapter 15 Urban Mobilities in Francophone African Return Narratives

• Main Author: Toivanen, Anna-Leena (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2023
• Subjects: Literature: history & criticism; Human geography; Urban communities; literary urban studies, methods, concepts, genres, teaching // Teaching literary urban studies keywords: literary urban studies, teaching, general courses, referentiality, teaching methods, context
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

Summary

This chapter discusses the representation of West and Central African cities in Francophone African narratives of diasporic return. Using as case studies Camara Laye's Dramouss (A Dream of Africa; 1966), Aïssatou Cissokho's Dakar, la touriste autochtone ("Dakar, the Native Tourist"; 1986), and Daniel Biyaoula's L'Impasse ("The Impasse"; 1996), the chapter focuses on the texts' portrayals of urban mobility practices and transport to explore the role of mobility in the construction of the postcolonial African city as experienced by the diasporic returnee, typical a displaced postcolonial mobile subject. In the discussed novels, various modes of mobility move the protagonists around in their former hometowns, permitting encounters with city dwellers and formerly familial urban landscapes. The texts' portrayals of the returnees' urban mobilities highlight the tensions between memory and the present and underline the protagonists' sense of unbelonging and disillusionment. By focusing on African cities from the perspective of urban mobilities, the chapter contributes to the on-going postcolonialization of literary urban studies and enhances the field's dialogue with mobilities research.

Physical Description

1 electronic resource (15 p.)

ISBN

9781003124931-18
9780367645212
9780367645243

Access

Open Access