Memories of Exile and Negotiations of New Spaces in Segun Afolabi's A Life Elsewhere

Abstract

Studies on African migrant fiction are mostly fixated on two phenomena: refugees and the clandestine flows of migrants the diaspora. This article focuses on a critically neglected Nigerian migrant writer, Segun Afolabi, whose collection of stories, A Life Elsewhere, foregrounds complex emotion and meaning. Afolabi’s stories are marked by a profound sense of hybridity, very much in the migrant tradition. They dwell on issues of displacement, migrancy and diaspora; they explore the internal lives of migrants, the painful negotiation of relationships, and the navigation of life’s uncertainties. Carefully crafted, the range of stories is impressive, convincingly set in Africa, North America, Europe, Asia and the Far East, they address topical issues of exile.