<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This article addresses how (cultural) identity in Igiaba Scego’s literary works is achieved through a struggle of bodily pain. Narrating from a female point of view, Scego explores in depth the female migrant condition which in her texts is accentuated by the migrant body’s diversity and subsequent enhanced visibility. When reading Scego’s literary work, the conflictual relationship that many of her protagonists have with notions such as identity and cultural belonging is striking. Her protagonists’ autoanalytical questioning and lack of unity in terms of identity sometimes results in painful and self-inflicted bodily expressions, and this paper’s analysis of Scego’s hybrid and suffering protagonists is based on readings of the novels Oltre Babilonia (2008) and La mia casa è dove sono (2010), as well as the short story ‘Salsicce’ (2005a).</p>
</abstract>

This article addresses how (cultural) identity in Igiaba Scego’s literary works is achieved through a struggle of bodily pain. Narrating from a female point of view, Scego explores in depth the female migrant condition which in her texts is accentuated by the migrant body’s diversity and subsequent enhanced visibility. When reading Scego’s literary work, the conflictual relationship that many of her protagonists have with notions such as identity and cultural belonging is striking. Her protagonists’ autoanalytical questioning and lack of unity in terms of identity sometimes results in painful and self-inflicted bodily expressions, and this paper’s analysis of Scego’s hybrid and suffering protagonists is based on readings of the novels Oltre Babilonia (2008) and La mia casa è dove sono (2010), as well as the short story ‘Salsicce’ (2005a).

The quest for identity through bodily pain: Female abjection in the literary work of Igiaba Scego

Borderlands Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This article addresses how (cultural) identity in Igiaba Scego’s literary works is achieved through a struggle of bodily pain. Narrating from a female point of...

The quest for identity through bodily pain: Female abjection in the literary work of Igiaba Scego

Published Online: Apr 30, 2020

Page range: 64 - 87

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/borderlands-2019-004

Keywords
pain, bodies, migration, Igiaba Scego, narrative

© 2019 Camilla Skalle published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The quest for identity through bodily pain: Female abjection in the literary work of Igiaba Scego

Published Online: Apr 30, 2020

Page range: 64 - 87

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/borderlands-2019-004

Keywordspain, bodies, migration, Igiaba Scego, narrative

© 2019 Camilla Skalle published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
pain, bodies, migration, Igiaba Scego, narrative