Blackness, religion, aesthetics: Johannes Anyuru’s literary explorations of migration and diaspora

Abstract

The article analyses deconstructions of the European construct from the vantage point of how skin colour, physical appearance and religion have been used for drawing boundaries between white, Christian Europe and the black, Muslim world. The analysis is based on literary texts by the Afro-Swedish author Johannes Anyuru. The article proposes that his first collection of poems from 2003, the first novel from 2010 and a multifaceted text from 2011, which is a kind of diary on the surface level, contribute to the shaping of new notions of belonging, home and identity that challenge ideas of cultural purity and homogeneity. On the level of aesthetics the texts exemplify a diaspora aesthetic characterized by hybridization. This involves a mixture of elements from various stylistic registers and locations from within and outside Europe.

Keywords

• Johannes Anyuru
• Afro-Swedishness
• diaspora aesthetics
• hybridization
• skin colour
• Islam