Transcending National Borders in Nuruddin Farah's Maps

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, Tanta University.

Abstract

 
         Maps celebrates the coming of age of Askar Cali-Xamari, the Somali protagonist, who discovers his identity amidst the turmoil of the Ogaden warbetween Somalia and Ethiopia. Askar goes through three stages throughout the course of the novel. The first stage is the one in which Askar identifies himself with the woman world of Misra. In this stage, there exists the strikingly emotional and bodily closeness between Misra and Askar. Misra does not represent an Ethiopian figure; instead, she represents a multicultural figure. The second stage starts with Askar's circumcision, his ritual transference to the world of manhood. This stage represents a corporeal barrier between Askar and Misra. Askar is detached and weaned from his mother-figure Misra because he is able to find a substitute in Somalia, his mother country. In this stage, Askar is entrapped within the borders drawn on maps, not being aware that even maps can be manipulated by means of political and military agendas. The third stage includes Askar's journey to Mogadiscio. Askar's uncle, Hilal, refers to the fact that Ethiopia is generic because of its mélange of tribes, but Somalia is specific because of its common language.  For Askar, this argument destroys the Somali claim to particularity. Askar becomes aware of the structured nature of borders. He is eventually able to adopt a multicultural identity.

Keywords

References

Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the      
Originand Spread of  Nationalism. London: Verso.
Barker,C.(2004). The Sage Dictionary of Cultural studies. London:
SAGE Publications.
Brown,M.(2010). Bleeding for the Mother (Land):Reading                            
Testimonial Bodies in Nuruddin                                    
Farah's Maps. Research in African Literatures,41(4), 125-143. 
                       https:// jstor.org/stable/10.2979/ral.2010.41.4.125.
Ephrem, Y. (2016, March 21). Ethiopian-Somali War Over the
Ogaden.. University of Washington Jorurnal. https://blackpast.org/global-african-history/ethiopian-somali-war-over-ogaden-region-1977-1978/.
Encyclopedia Brittanica.
 https://brittanica.com/biography/Nurruddin-Farah.
Farah, N. (1995). Bastards of Empire: Writing and the Politics of Exile.    
Transition, 65(1), 26.
---.  (1996). Salvaging the Soul of a Nation, W. H.Gass and L. Cuoco
(Eds.), The Writer in Politics. Carbondale, IL: Southern  
Illinois University Press.
---. (1998). A Country in Exile. Transition, 57(1), 4–8.
---. (1999). Maps. New York: Arcade Publishing.
Hall, S. (1992).Cultural Studies and its Theoretical Legacies, L.
Grossberg, C. Nelson and P. Treichler (Eds.), Cultural Studies. London and New York: Routledge. PP. 277-294.
Kazan, F. (1993 Spring). Recalling the Other Third World: Nuruddin
Farah's Maps. Novel: A Forum on Fiction, 26(3), 253, 15.
Kellner, D. (2001). Cultural Studies and Social Theory: A Critical
Intervention,1-23.  https://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/
Ngaboh-Smart, F. (2001). Nationalism and the Aporia of National
Identity in Farah's Maps. Research in African Literatures, 32(3).
Patterson, A. (2014). The International Novel. New Haven, CT:                      
Yale University Press.
Said, E. (2000). Reflections on Exile and Other Literary Cultural Essays.    
London: Harvard University Press.
Sugnet, Ch. (1998). Nuruddin Farah’s Maps: Deterritorialization and
The Postmodern. World Literature Today, 72(4), 739–46.
Talese, A.(1992, April 05). The Famished Road [ Review of the novel
The Famished Road, by Ben Okri].    
                         https://publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-42476-9.
Weber, S. (1991). Return to Freud (M, Levine, Trans.) Cambridge:  
Cambridge UP.
Wright, D. (1990). Zero Zones: Nuruddin Farah’s Fiction. A Review of
International English Literature, 21(2), 21-42.
---. (1992). Parenting the nation: Some observations on Nurrudin
Farah’s Maps. College Literature, 19/20(3/1), 176-184.
Yahweh, E. (2001). The Nation as a Contested Construct. Research in
African Literatures, 32(3), 45–56.
Faculty of Education Journal Alexandria University
Volume 29, Issue 6
PART 3
December 2019
Pages 81-100

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics