ANTICIPATING ELDORADO, CONFRONTING DYSTOPIA: MIGRATION, EXILE AND TRAUMA IN BRIAN CHIKWAVA'S HARARE NORTH

Abstract

Migration and exile constitute recurrent leitmotifs in recent postcolonial narratives. Existing studies on migration fiction focussed on the stealthy and risk-laden movement of migrants in search of greener pastures, with little attention paid to the experiences of migrants in their host lands. This study was, therefore, designed to examine the basis and aftermath of migration in Brian Chikwava's Harare North. The study adopts Cathy Caruth's model of Trauma Theory as well as Irene Visser's and Marinella Rodi-Risberg's critical perspectives on trauma for its theoretical framework. The interpretive design was adopted. The tropes deployed are the diaspora, identity negotiation, hybridity, nostalgia and return migration. Disillusionment and trauma generally dominate Zimbabwean migrants' experience in their host land. Disenchanting realities particularly alienation, displacement, amnesia, agitation, solitude, and hostility typify the migrants' experience in London. Related tropes of hopelessness, homelessness, restlessness, rootlessness, regrets, frustration, starvation and trauma encapsulate their experience in Europe. Trauma among the migrants finds expression in anger, self-estrangement, anxiety, psychosis and depression. There are also feelings of helplessness, diminished sense of self, delusion, insomnia, fear, sadness, periodic withdrawal, dissociative disorders and post-traumatic stress disorders. Thus, rather than being the much-anticipated utopia, the sufferings inherent in exile become more biting than the ones the migrants had run away from in their traditional homeland. Rather than run to an anticipated or fantasised utopia, citizens of Third-World climes have a duty to stay back in their respective countries and, through deliberate and concerted efforts, ensure their nations work for them. Anything to the contrary is an endeavour in search of a utopia.