Ambiguous agency in the vulnerable trafficked body: reading Sanusi’s Eyo and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street
The narrativization of the trafficked body in the novels of Abidemi Sanusi and Chika Unigwe allows for a contemplation of Europe in African migrant imaginaries as both promise and failure. Sanusi’s Eyo is a narrative of a ten-year-old girl who is trafficked to the United Kingdom as a human sex slav...
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Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Association
2019-06-01
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Online Access: | https://journals.assaf.org.za/index.php/tvl/article/view/6274 |
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doaj-2db69d67aefc4bdcb1152fe73353f4942020-11-25T02:40:14ZafrTydskrif vir Letterkunde AssociationTydskrif vir Letterkunde0041-476X2309-90702019-06-0156110.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.56i1.6274Ambiguous agency in the vulnerable trafficked body: reading Sanusi’s Eyo and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ StreetDina Ligaga0University of the Witwatersrand The narrativization of the trafficked body in the novels of Abidemi Sanusi and Chika Unigwe allows for a contemplation of Europe in African migrant imaginaries as both promise and failure. Sanusi’s Eyo is a narrative of a ten-year-old girl who is trafficked to the United Kingdom as a human sex slave. The novel draws attention to the tensions that define her being/unbeing in Europe and beyond, even after a brave escape from her traffickers. This precarious existence is enhanced in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street, whose main characters exist in Europe selling their bodies while existing in states of continuous vulnerability. In reading these two novels side by side, this article explores the discursive meanings of trafficked bodies and how traumatic existence allows for an engagement with Europe as illusory in the imaginaries of African women who cross borders into Europe. The article argues that while the female characters are vulnerable, they retain an ambiguous agency contained within their ability to survive and remain resilient in the face of atrocities for borders crossers. The narrative form of the novel allows for an exploration of what this agency looks like in the face of extreme vulnerability. https://journals.assaf.org.za/index.php/tvl/article/view/6274traumatrafficked bodyborder crossingvulnerabilitynarrativity |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
Afrikaans |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Dina Ligaga |
spellingShingle |
Dina Ligaga Ambiguous agency in the vulnerable trafficked body: reading Sanusi’s Eyo and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street Tydskrif vir Letterkunde trauma trafficked body border crossing vulnerability narrativity |
author_facet |
Dina Ligaga |
author_sort |
Dina Ligaga |
title |
Ambiguous agency in the vulnerable trafficked body: reading Sanusi’s Eyo and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street |
title_short |
Ambiguous agency in the vulnerable trafficked body: reading Sanusi’s Eyo and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street |
title_full |
Ambiguous agency in the vulnerable trafficked body: reading Sanusi’s Eyo and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street |
title_fullStr |
Ambiguous agency in the vulnerable trafficked body: reading Sanusi’s Eyo and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ambiguous agency in the vulnerable trafficked body: reading Sanusi’s Eyo and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street |
title_sort |
ambiguous agency in the vulnerable trafficked body: reading sanusi’s eyo and unigwe’s on black sisters’ street |
publisher |
Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Association |
series |
Tydskrif vir Letterkunde |
issn |
0041-476X 2309-9070 |
publishDate |
2019-06-01 |
description |
The narrativization of the trafficked body in the novels of Abidemi Sanusi and Chika Unigwe allows for a contemplation of Europe in African migrant imaginaries as both promise and failure. Sanusi’s Eyo is a narrative of a ten-year-old girl who is trafficked to the United Kingdom as a human sex slave. The novel draws attention to the tensions that define her being/unbeing in Europe and beyond, even after a brave escape from her traffickers. This precarious existence is enhanced in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street, whose main characters exist in Europe selling their bodies while existing in states of continuous vulnerability. In reading these two novels side by side, this article explores the discursive meanings of trafficked bodies and how traumatic existence allows for an engagement with Europe as illusory in the imaginaries of African women who cross borders into Europe. The article argues that while the female characters are vulnerable, they retain an ambiguous agency contained within their ability to survive and remain resilient in the face of atrocities for borders crossers. The narrative form of the novel allows for an exploration of what this agency looks like in the face of extreme vulnerability.
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topic |
trauma trafficked body border crossing vulnerability narrativity |
url |
https://journals.assaf.org.za/index.php/tvl/article/view/6274 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT dinaligaga ambiguousagencyinthevulnerabletraffickedbodyreadingsanusiseyoandunigwesonblacksistersstreet |
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1724782259719897088 |