Blurring the Self and the Other: Driss Chraibi, Mouloud Ferouan and Tayeb Saleh

Rachid Boumashoul (Kaddi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco)

The question of hybridity is a complex but inviting one. It is true that migratory subjectivities manage to penetrate the space of the Other through their intellectual and physical existence in the oppressing centres. This Diaspora creates spaces for subversive voices, which try to write back against the Other from their very own positions. However, the most vexing question is whether these migratory subjectivities re-read the perspectives of the centre or contribute to their legitimisation. It is from this theoretical premise that I would like to argue that the migratory hybrid makes the political move of going beyond the dichotomous vision of the centre and periphery that characterises most postcolonial texts. I will argue that a more productive postcolonial reading will consist of blurring the clear-cut distinction between the self and the other. Specific examples will be taken from Driss Chraibi's Le passé simple (Morocco), Mouloud Feroun's La terre et le sang (Algeria) and Tayeb Saleh's Season of Migration to the North (Sudan).


Postcolonial OV discourseov Casablanca Conference

Last modified: 7 May 2001