Nomadism as lifestyle: the construction of a narrative borderland in Un beduino en el Caribe

This article analyses the short story collection Un beduino en el Caribe (A Bedouin in the Caribbean), written by the Sahrawi author Ali Salem Iselmu and published in 2014. Although the Saharan desert remains at the core of the collection, representing the quintessential and predominant place in the...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Fuentes Antrás, Francisco
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/714236
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/714236
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Border poetics
Borderland
Sahrawi literature
Refugees
Identity
Literatura
Descripción
Sumario:This article analyses the short story collection Un beduino en el Caribe (A Bedouin in the Caribbean), written by the Sahrawi author Ali Salem Iselmu and published in 2014. Although the Saharan desert remains at the core of the collection, representing the quintessential and predominant place in the author’s literary universe, these short stories also depict an amalgam of places, the cohabitation of different cultures, and thus, the Sahrawi migration as a multi-space phenomenon. Drawing on the idea that fictional literature can be an effective tool for political resistance, and that the negotiation of an alternative identity within a hegemonic order requires a space, this article argues that Iselmu’s short stories project resistance literary spaces where the author expresses his disapproval of the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara and vindicates a nomad and transboundary identity. This resistance is achieved through the construction (and habitation) of a borderland at a narrative level, characterized by a fluid and flexible identity and multiple and juxtaposed geographical spaces, where the Sahrawi narrative voices can reimagine their identity and their sense of sovereignty