Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: In the past two decades, the critical discourse of migration has shifted from an emphatic validation of migrancy still dominant at the end of the last century to a more differentiated view, taking into account the challenges of forced displacement. This article describes this shift and explores how it has facilitated new readings of migrant literature. It re-examines Andrea Levy’s short story “Loose Change”, discussing how its reception so far has hinged on the assumption of a principal sameness of all migrants. Following this, it problematizes critics’ consistent omission to reflect on the differences Levy develops between the narrator, a well-to-do descendant of the Windrush generation, and a homeless refugee from Uzbekistan. As is shown, close attention to these differences yields a new understanding of Levy’s short story which raises crucial questions about British civil society’s attitude to refugees and British civilians’ implication in their fates.
Source: Journal of Postcolonial Writing
Author: Helga Ramsey-Kurz
Institution: Universität Innsbruck
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4402837097