2010 Student Research Conference:
23rd Annual Student Research Conference

Isolation and Alienation: Colonialism's Impact in Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North
Derek J. Franklin
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor

This paper will examine the ways in which Tayeb Salih, in his novel Season of Migration to the North (1969), problematizes the conflict that arises between colliding worlds, European and African, emphasizing the ambivalence engendered by the meeting of the two. The two central characters, an unnamed narrator and Mustafa Saeed, illustrate how their colonial encounters generate their sense of alienation and isolation. The narrator at first acknowledges his sense of solid groundedness in his land, but this assurance is superficial, and the narrator finally admits his sense of estrangement in his homeland. Unlike the narrator's attempts to be impervious to European culture on his return, Mustafa Saeed maintains a private shrine to European culture in his home. This paper, then, will analyze how Salih's construction of the two characters suggests that those alienated from their native culture by colonialism ultimately lose themselves to a state of cultural in-betweenness.

Keywords: Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North, Alienation, Isolation , Colonialism, Postcolonialism

Topic(s):English

Presentation Type: Oral Paper

Session: 28-4
Location: VH 1304
Time: 10:15

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