Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article approaches francophone African crime fiction from the perspective of mobility studies, with the aim of taking Afroeuropean mobilities ‘seriously’ by understanding mobility in itself as a valuable subject of inquiry. Seeking to explore the tangible, multiple and relational aspects of Afroeuropean mobilities in the context of francophone African crime fiction, this article uses Bolya’s La Polyandre (1998) and Simon Njami’s Cercueil & Cie (1985) as case studies, highlighting the key role that mobility plays in crime fiction. The mobilities-oriented analysis of the novels pays particular attention to their representations of mobility practices and infrastructures, modes of transport and places of transit. Applying some of the key tenets of the New Mobilities Paradigm and thus contributing to the mobilities turn in the humanities, the article argues for the necessity of a holistic understanding of postcolonial mobilities that does not limit itself to one category of mobility, namely migration. In particular, the analysis highlights the importance of exploring the relationship between macro- and micro-scale mobilities in order to acknowledge the diverse ways in which mobilities motivate francophone African crime fiction.
Source: Modern & Contemporary France
Author: Anna-Leena Toivanen
Institution: University of Eastern Finland
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Award: G2744929120
OpenAlex ID: W4414540575