Embodied Selves/Disembodied Subjects: Homing the Body in NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names

Abstract

Scholars have focused on NoViolet Bulawayo’s novel We Need New Names through its depictions of Africa, borders, and humanitarian aid, but have not yet fully engaged with the gendered aspects of displacement and home in the novel. Central to the text is the main character, Darling’s, longing for a sense of home. Drawing on the concept of ‘homing’, this article examines how Darling’s search for a home is tied to her body and the gendered bodies that surround her. This article argues that Darling can be read as undergoing a journey towards embodiment as she strives to find a home, in both her own body and in the USA; Darling’s body comes to serve as a fraught home, a site where seemingly different worlds collide. It is not until she begins to accept her body and her new destination in the USA that she becomes embodied and moves towards a feeling of home. Ultimately, Bulawayo’s text demonstrates how attention to gendered notions of displacement better allows the reader to understand contemporary migrant experiences in literature.

Keywords

• home
• narratives of displacement
• NoViolet Bulawayo
• embodiment
• gendered bodies