The representation of unhomely identity in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s the last gift
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Date
2014
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
This study examines Abdulrazak Gurnah’s The Last Gift; and its multifaceted representation of both cultural and physical unhomely identities. The writer creates characters that make and remake their identities in an alien land as they strive to find a real ‘home’ in the world. The objective of the study was to explore the concept ‘home’ in The Last Gift and its problematisation of homeliness vis-a-vis ethnic identity. The study establishes that the novel portrays that culture is in transition – no society has remained with a static ethnic cultural identity as characters in the novel struggle to find real homes and end caught up in multiple of homes and identities resulting in both cultural and spatial dilemma. The study shows how Abbas, the main character in The Last Gift seems to dislocate both his cultural and spatial ethnic identities when he leaves behind his country of origin, Tanzania (Zanzibar) for Western world. The study establishes that it is not only colonialism that has caused displacement of individuals’ cultural and spatial identities but also migration and the significance of descent citizenship and/ or dual citizenship rights, which transform in the face of seemingly irreversible displacement and make individuals get caught up in both cultural and spatial dilemmas. Therefore, the study concludes that cultural and physical unhomely identities are inevitable consequences in the world where diverse groups with different cultural ethnicities struggle to come to terms with the dictates of cosmopolitanism or transnationalism.
Description
Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF PR9399.9.G87M86)
Keywords
Gurnah, Abdulrazak, Fiction, The last gift
Citation
Munkondya, V. (2014) The representation of unhomely identity in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s the last gift, Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam.