Figures of the Migrant

<p>This volume seeks to investigate the representation of the migrant and migration in literary texts and the arts. Through studies that examine works in a range of art forms ‒ novels, theatre, poetry, creative non-fiction, documentary films and performance and video installations ‒ that evoke a variety of historical and (trans)national contexts, the volume focuses on the question of the roles of literature and the arts in representing migration. An important issue considered is the extent to which artistic figuration can act as a counterpoint to social discourse on migrants that often involves stereotypes and reductive views. The different contributions to the volume illustrate that literature and the arts can provide readers and viewers with a space for fluid knowledge production and affective expansion and that within that overarching function, artistic works play three main roles with regard to representing migration: undertaking a socio-political and cultural critique, presenting alternative views to stereotypes that highlight the singularity and complexity of the migrant and providing proposals for different futures.</p> <p>Part I Overview</p><p>1. The roles of literature and the arts in representing the migrant and migration<b> </b>- Siobhan Brownlie</p><p>Part II Critiques of Definitions, Representations and Ideologies</p><p>2. Representations of child ‘migrants’ in Akli Tadjer’s <i>Le Porteur de Cartable</i> - Fiona Barclay</p><p>3. Bridging migratory fault-lines: Francis Alÿs’s performance at the Strait of Gibraltar - David Álvarez </p><p>4. Mediterranean connections: representing the migrant’s journey in <i>Le voyage des âmes </i>by Mounsi<b> </b>- Jonathan Lewis</p><p>Part III Deeper Insights into Being a Migrant</p><p>5. Writing the voice of the ‘other’: Maggie Gee and Antonio Manzini narrating migrant care workers - Nicoletta Di Ciolla and Serena Guarracino</p><p>6. Visual explorations of a new life: language, identity and landscape in <i>El futuro perfecto</i> and <i>Ingen Ko På Isen<b> </b></i>- Carmen Herrero</p><p>7. ‘I love, you fear, we leave’: representations of emotion and migrancy in Berni Searle’s<b> </b><i>Home and Away </i>and <i>Seeking Refuge</i> - Nicola Cloete</p><p>8. The father as a figure of exile: desire and sublimation in Naomi Shihab Nye’s ‘My Father and the Figtree’<b> </b>- Rédouane Abouddahab</p><p>Part IV Migration through Particular Prisms</p><p>9. SHE-menism: Girl-trafficking and the gendered experiences of forced migrations in Soji Cole’s <i>Embers</i> - Julie Umukoro </p><p>10. ‘Times are connected through land and bodies’ in Native American literature: living landscapes in Toni Jensen and Layli Long Soldier - Wes Atkinson </p><p>Part V Trajectories for the Future</p><p>11. Screening young migrants and cosmopolitan mobility: Julie Bertuccelli’s <i>Cour de Babel<b> </b></i>- Isabelle Vanderschelden</p><p>12. Conclusion - Siobhan Brownlie and Rédouane Abouddahab</p>