Reading and representing African refugees in New York
Tracy Kidder and Jonny Steinberg have constructed evocative biographies of African refugees' dislocation, journeys and struggles to settle in the USA. These books are reviewed through the lens of how South African readers might read these books given local imaginings of African refugees. The ar...
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University of the Western Cape, Centre for Humanities Research and the History Department
2011-01-01
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doaj-70a9924c828a46d5ba76bc62dba845e52020-11-24T20:49:07ZengUniversity of the Western Cape, Centre for Humanities Research and the History DepartmentKronos0259-01902011-01-01371120128Reading and representing African refugees in New YorkSean FieldTracy Kidder and Jonny Steinberg have constructed evocative biographies of African refugees' dislocation, journeys and struggles to settle in the USA. These books are reviewed through the lens of how South African readers might read these books given local imaginings of African refugees. The article describes how African refugee experiences are portrayed in both books and it critiques their representation of trauma and memory; and how each 'author' approached their relationships with the 'authored'. Kidder tended to be the ventriloquist for the Burundian refugee's life story and while offering useful narrative analysis, his conclusions have a redemptive tone. In contrast, Steinberg shares his draft manuscript with two Liberian protagonists, which produces complex encounters between author and authored. Steinberg's analysis of how the past Liberian civil war is mirrored in present conflicts within and amongst refugees in Little Liberia leads to a more complex account of refugee lives and of how memory and history intertwine.http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-01902011000100008 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sean Field |
spellingShingle |
Sean Field Reading and representing African refugees in New York Kronos |
author_facet |
Sean Field |
author_sort |
Sean Field |
title |
Reading and representing African refugees in New York |
title_short |
Reading and representing African refugees in New York |
title_full |
Reading and representing African refugees in New York |
title_fullStr |
Reading and representing African refugees in New York |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reading and representing African refugees in New York |
title_sort |
reading and representing african refugees in new york |
publisher |
University of the Western Cape, Centre for Humanities Research and the History Department |
series |
Kronos |
issn |
0259-0190 |
publishDate |
2011-01-01 |
description |
Tracy Kidder and Jonny Steinberg have constructed evocative biographies of African refugees' dislocation, journeys and struggles to settle in the USA. These books are reviewed through the lens of how South African readers might read these books given local imaginings of African refugees. The article describes how African refugee experiences are portrayed in both books and it critiques their representation of trauma and memory; and how each 'author' approached their relationships with the 'authored'. Kidder tended to be the ventriloquist for the Burundian refugee's life story and while offering useful narrative analysis, his conclusions have a redemptive tone. In contrast, Steinberg shares his draft manuscript with two Liberian protagonists, which produces complex encounters between author and authored. Steinberg's analysis of how the past Liberian civil war is mirrored in present conflicts within and amongst refugees in Little Liberia leads to a more complex account of refugee lives and of how memory and history intertwine. |
url |
http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-01902011000100008 |
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