A Literary Anthropology of Migration and Belonging

This collection pushes migration and "the minor" to the fore of literary anthropology. What happens when authors who thematize their minority background articulate notions of belonging, self, and society in literature? The contributors use interface ethnography and fieldwork on foot to analyze a broad selection of literature and processes of dialogic engagement. The chapters discuss German-speaking Herta Mllers perpetual minority status in Romania; Bengali-Scottish Bashabi Fraser and the potentiality of poetry; vagrant pastoralism and heritagization in Puglia, Italy; the self-representation of European Muslims post 9/11 in Zeshan Shakars acclaimed Norwegian novel; the autobiographical narratives of Loveleen Rihel Brenna and the artist collective Queendom in Norway; the immigrant as a permanent guest in Spanish-language childrens literature; and Slovenian roots-searching in Argentina. This anthology examines the generative and transformative potentials of storytelling, while illustrating that literary anthropology is well equipped to examine the multiple contexts that literature engages. Chapter 4 of this book is available open access under a CC By 4.0 license at link.springer.com.