The deterritorialised self in Laila Lalami'sHope and Other Dangerous Pursuits
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3979005 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rima Abunasser (Texas Christian University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 182-198 |
| Publication date | 2016-03-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13629387.2016.1130931 |
| OpenAlex | W2273724658 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 10 |
The most recurring image of the Mediterranean in recent years has been that of the overloaded migrant boat, an image often accompanied by the tragic story of shipwrecks and death tolls. Laila Lalami's novel, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, expands upon this tragic image, challenging narrow categorisations of Moroccan emigrant identity. Lalami creates a discursive space that disrupts the myth of the nation and subordinates considerations of Hispano-Moroccan relations to the individual narratives of four Moroccan emigrants. The novel – in three parts titled, 'The Trip', 'Before', and 'After' – opens with the Mediterranean crossing; it begins where the international discourse about North African immigrants generally ends. In the subsequent sections, Lalami redefines the emigrants, exploring their individual trajectories and the processes that lead them to their ultimate destinations. The end result – both for those characters who make it to Spain and those who must return to Morocco – is a liminal, deterritorialised self that challenges not only the immigrant narrative but also the cultures between which these people travel. Ultimately, Lalami's construction of diasporic and migrant identity reveals an untethered selfhood, one in constant movement, transit, and mutation. 'Home' is radically redefined, existing only in these individuals themselves, identifying with neither Morocco nor Spain, belonging instead to a liminal space caught somewhere in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea
Political science · Psychoanalysis · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Psychology · South Asian Cinema and Culture
Lalami’s Anomic World
Dear dad
De-imperializing Gender
From passage to suspension
Biopolitics and the emergent self-reflexive Maghribi subjectivity in Laila Lalami'sHope and Other Dangerous Pursuits
(Im)mobility and Mediterranean migrations
Traces of the Deleuzian nomad inHope and Other Dangerous Pursuits
Maghrebi Migrants and Writers
Global Journeys
The dislocation of ‘home’ in the writings of Laila Lalami
Sufis on Exile and Ghorba
Perceptions and Realities of Moroccan Immigration Flows and Spanish Policies
Illegal' crossing, historical memory and postcolonial agency in Laila Lalami'sHope and other dangerous pursuits
We have not buried the simple past
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,78 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |