Archaeology of the Self in African and Asian Writing

Paper Abstract: This presentation will focus on Mariètou Mbaye Biléoma’s The Abandoned Baobab (1982), Tahar Ben Jelloun’s The Sand Child (1985) and Linda Lê’s Calomnies (1993) and Aki Shimazaki’s The Weight of Secrets (2005). These authors’ literary production offers a fertile ground for the exploration of the experiences of the self, family, and society at large. In their works, writing functions as an archaeological device used to make sense of obstructive social processes making life demanding and complex for the characters. This introspective orientation positions the narratives mentioned above as some of the most significant archives of the individual’s journey in and out of the private and public sphere in the modern era. This talk will then compare the representation of the self in the novels selected for this study while examining what the prominence given to the self in The Abandoned Baobab, The Sand Child, Calomnies and The Weight of Secrets (2005) could mean for contemporary African and Asian literature and culture.