Representations of the African Diaspora in Ben Okri’s Fiction

This chapter investigates different images of the African diaspora in works by Ben Okri. A writer of Nigerian origins based in London, Okri projects his own experiences of migration, displacement, and self-refashioning onto his oeuvre, which bears evidence of the tangle of diverse, even contradictory, interpretations of what “home” represents for those involved. Drawing upon theories of the diaspora and the related idea of “unhomeliness,” the chapter explores the representation of diasporic traumas in some of Okri’s novels dealing with the Atlantic slave trade, colonialism, and immigration. Special attention is given to two 1980s short stories, “Disparities” and “A Hidden History,” which are read through Kristeva’s theories of “abjection” and “strangerhood.” Both revolving around ideas of displacement and unhomeliness, these short stories reveal the instability of the idea of “home” and the ensuing sense of frustration felt by exilic figures unable to settle satisfactorily abroad.