Home and Nation in Anglophone Autobiographies of Africa

This book looks at contemporary autobiographical works by writers with African backgrounds in relation to the idea of place. It examines eight authors works Helen Coopers The House at Sugar Beach, Sisonke Msimangs Always Another Country, Leila Ahmeds A Border Passage, Noo Saro-Wiwas Looking for Transwonderland, Douglas Rogerss The Last Resort, Elamin Abdelmahmouds Son of Elsewhere, Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weils The Girl Who Smiled Beads and Aminatta Fornas autobiographical writing to argue that place is particularly central to personal narrative in texts whose authors have migrated multiple times. Spanning Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Egypt, Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, this book interrogates the label African writing which has been criticized for ignoring local contexts. It demonstrates how in their works these writers seek to reconnect with a bygone Africa, often after complex experiences of political upheavals and personal loss. The chapters also provide in-depth analyses of key concepts related to place and autobiography: place and privilege, place and trauma, and the relationship between place and nation.