“the leeches are the least of the worries”: Blankscapes and another other in jamaica kincaid’s among flowers and biyi bandele’s the king’s rifle
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2015
Abstract
Jamaica Kincaid’s botanical travelogue Among Flowers (Antigua, 2005) and Biyi Bandele’s novel The King’s Rifle (Nigeria, 2007) depict parts of the world—Burma and Nepal—familiarized through their shared encounter with British colonialism. Yet, these countries are also radically different from Antigua and Nigeria not just because of geographic location, but also because of the myriad factors that make up the diversity of the human condition, including class, race, and ethnic difference. This essay examines how an Afro-Caribbean and an African writer from two former British colonies depict other non-white British colonies and the people who inhabit these places. It, therefore, diverges from the numerous studies done on white Europeans traveling in the non-European world or of the colonized encountering other colonized people in diasporic spaces. Representation is key here, especially how the ex-colonized depicts what I call Another Other.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Research in African Literatures
First Page
19
Last Page
36
Recommended Citation
Rastogi, P. (2015). “the leeches are the least of the worries”: Blankscapes and another other in jamaica kincaid’s among flowers and biyi bandele’s the king’s rifle. Research in African Literatures, 46 (1), 19-36. https://doi.org/10.2979/reseafrilite.46.1.19