Specialist in African Literature and Post-Colonial Studies, Elena Brugioni comments on topics covered by the author and the importance of the award
"Where I lived, the dominant narrative was the sea and the ocean beyond it." The account given by Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah in a 2015 lecture at the University of Kent, in the United Kingdom, summarizes some of the feelings that his books seek to convey to readers around the world. The plurality of the peoples of the Indian Ocean coast and the contrasts faced by people who leave their homes in situations of refuge are the drivers of a rich literary work. Laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021, Gurnah brings light not only to the cultural diversity that exists in East Africa, but also to the emergence of the refugee situation in Western countries.
"Gurnah is an author who, upon winning the Nobel Prize, dedicates the prize to all people seeking refuge, who are forced to abandon their homeland and seek refuge elsewhere. According to him, refugees never arrive empty-handed. His work shows this a lot", analyzes Elena Brugioni, professor at the Institute of Language Studies (IEL) at Unicamp and researcher of African literature and post-colonial studies. In an interview with Jornal da Unicamp, Elena highlights traits that should be highlighted in the writer's work, such as the dialogue between cultural references from the East and the West and the approach to themes related to the experiences of people far from their places of origin. She also comments on the importance of Gurnah's choice for expanding the Western literary repertoire: "The Nobel will probably give him the audience he hasn't had until now outside of a specialized context."
From Zanzibar to the world
Abdulrazak Gurnah was born on the island of Zanzibar in 1948. At the time, the place was still under British rule, as was the mainland of present-day Tanzania. After the region gained independence in 1963, the country went through a revolution that led to persecution of citizens of Arab origin. This meant he needed to leave Zanzibar and settle in the United Kingdom, where he still lives today. There, he specialized in Literature and Post-Colonial Studies, becoming a professor at the University of Kent. Life experiences and studies focused on African literature are factors that boosted his literary work. Since 1987, the year his first novel was released, Gurnah has published ten novels and a series of short stories.
"The issue of refuge is a central element in his personal story and in his own work. For this reason, Gurnah gains a lot of visibility in the academic world not only for his literary writing, but also as a specialist in literature", explains Elena Brugioni. According to the teacher, he develops literary and academic careers simultaneously, which makes it possible to build dialogues between various African authors from both perspectives. "He started writing short stories and was selected by prestigious collections, some organized by Chinua Achebe, a great Nigerian writer. He also specialized in very important authors for Post-Colonial Studies. One of them is Salman Rushdie, an author to whom Gurnah dedicates a lot and about which he wrote a work (A Companion to Salman Rushdie, 2007). Another is Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a Kenyan writer who always appears among the possible candidates for the Nobel Prize", he details.
When addressing in his books the distance from his homeland, Gurnah does not restrict himself to experiences in which African and European cultures contrast. Paradise (1994), his main novel, tells the story of Yusuf, a young inhabitant of the coast of Tanzania who is sold by his father to pay a debt. With this, the plot develops from the contrast between the experience by the sea and the interior of the continent. "Gurnah does a very interesting exercise, it is the African himself who discovers the heart of Africa. There is a whole idea of inverting stereotypes and common places, which underpin the colonial discourse about Africa as a primitive and violent place, opposing civilization and barbarism ", explains Elena when elucidating the relationship established between Paradise and Heart of Darkness (1902), a work by Joseph Conrad considered a classic of Western literature.
Elena also details aspects of the work that expose a vast repertoire with which Gurnah relates, such as the dialogue with Swahili poetry, with the suras of the Quran and even with biblical narratives. In the latter case, Yusuf's trajectory can be related to Joseph, a biblical character who is also sold and leaves for another place. These are elements that, in the teacher's assessment, show both the qualities of the work and the maturity of the author: "Gurnah is very skilled at dispelling expectations and the notion of a happy ending as a reward for the character. For those who work with literature and look at issues that , which the common reader might miss, is a text that arouses a lot of interest".
Post-colonial perspective and expansion of repertoires
As academics, Abdulrazak Gurnah and Elena Brugioni share postcolonialism as the perspective that guides their studies. The paradigm gained strength from the 1970s and 1980s, when works such as Pele Negra, Máscaras Brancas (1952), by Frantz Fanon, and Orientalism (1978), by Edward Said, aroused the attention of intellectuals around the world, especially those of Western countries, to the political and cultural effects of colonialism on Africa, Asia and Latin America. This opened space for new perspectives of understanding the world and for greater diversity in the elaboration of narratives. In literature, the post-colonial vision concerns the expansion of the literary repertoire studied in universities and available to people, including works produced in Africa and Asia in the canon.
Due to its colonial heritage, Brazil occupies an important place in the development of these studies. Elena explains that there is a strong tradition in the country in research on literature produced in Portuguese-speaking African countries, such as Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. "What doesn't yet have much presence are the 'other Africas', productions from countries and peoples that don't speak Portuguese, or even that don't use European-based languages. This can create the idea that there is 'our Africa', Portuguese speaker, and others, that we are completely unaware of", he warns.
However, this reality has changed due to new studies carried out on these authors and movements in the Brazilian publishing market. She highlights as an example of this the publication in Brazil of the works of Nigerian Chimamanda Adichie. These are actions that arouse the interest of young academics in literature. "I have a very rewarding experience at Unicamp, many students want to do scientific initiation, master's degrees, doctorates in this area. I see that this is happening as Afro-Brazilian studies and black literature in Brazil gain space. It is a very productive alliance also for expand the literary canon, which is not restricted to some Portuguese, French, Italian and German authors", comments the professor, responsible for two research projects in the area supported by Fapesp. See project details here.
Graduated in Modern Literature from the University of Bologna, in Italy, Elena discovered the universe of African literature when developing her doctorate at the University of Minho, in Portugal. She says that it was the study of the works of Mozambican author Mia Couto that sparked her interest in exploring other voices that produced literature in nearby countries. "I started exploring authors from South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, and delved into studies of the Indian Ocean. This area ranges from India and the Middle East to the African coast", details the researcher. In the process, she realized the opportunity to discover voices from the Portuguese language that have a common element in their connection with the Indian Ocean: "My idea was to bring together authors who told stories and shared very similar traditions, cultural universes, habits and movements."
It is from this context that Gurnah emerges as an author to be studied, not only his literary works, but also his theoretical production regarding African literature. As with other East African authors, his experiences in Zanzibar connect him with other languages and cultures. "Gurnah is an author whose stories are all built from the Indian Ocean, with the island of Zanzibar as an emblematic place, as well as Tanzania and Kenya, showing the contrast that exists between the African coast and the interior of the continent. He is a very worked from this perspective, with a critical work on his quite extensive production", he points out.
"No refugee arrives empty-handed"
2021 data gathered by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) shows that there are now 82,4 million people in the world away from their homes due to conflict or persecution. Of this total, 26,4 million are in a refugee situation under a UNHCR mandate. The number is 115% higher than 10 years ago: in 2011, the UNHCR registered 38,4 million people displaced from their lands.
The growth in numbers shows the relevance of the topics addressed by Gurnah. Winning the Nobel Prize takes on a significant political character by drawing attention to the reality of refugees. For Elena, this is likely to have been one of the Swedish Academy's concerns when choosing the author as this year's winner. "We know that the Covid-19 pandemic has immensely worsened people's mobility, migrations and asylum requests. A problem that was already serious has become even more serious. I believe that, from this point of view, the prize is fundamental", says the teacher, who also sees it as a way of valuing the potential of these people to enrich other cultures: "The idea that a refugee can win the Nobel Prize is important. This is something very relevant".
Since 2019, Unicamp has directly contributed to the issue of refugees through the Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair, of which Elena Brugioni is a full member. The result of an agreement between the University and UNHCR, it develops projects and actions that guarantee teaching, research and university extension to people in refugee situations. Among the actions already carried out are the revalidation and recognition of diplomas, the teaching of the Portuguese language, the monitoring of academic life and legal support for refugee students, in addition to the training of teachers and coordinators for teaching refugee students and the approach to theme in subjects and seminars.
The professor believes that the Nobel Prize should also help with the Chair's mission, by facilitating the approach to new themes and authors in classes. "Works in foreign languages, which have not yet been translated in Brazil, are an obstacle. I cannot require an undergraduate student to read a novel in English, for example. This is an issue that prevents me from teaching Gurnah in my classes today. He It's on the subject program, but they're small, commented readings, because his work doesn't yet exist in Portuguese. However, awards like the Nobel Prize help to broaden our repertoire of African literature", he comments.
Elena also hopes that the themes covered by the author will sensitize readers from all over the world with more empathy and solidarity: "Gurnah brings in his books stories about the sultanates, the Arab peoples, the Swahili, the interior of Africa, life on the coast African, the survival of people, women, Europeans, all as actors who need to learn to live in that scenario. All of this is very interesting and productive, especially in a period in which we live, of increasing extremism and intolerance towards what is different".
