Refugee Identity and the Limits of Belonging in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Admiring Silence

Abstract

Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Admiring Silence offers a sensitive portrayal of refugee consciousness through the life of its unnamed Zanzibari narrator. His migration to England does not promise renewal. It exposes emotional, cultural and psychological fracture. Using theories by Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall and Cathy Caruth this paper examines the Admiring Silence by focusing on the related concepts of unhomeliness, hybridity and trauma. The unnamed narrator experiences an ambiguity that never resolves as a migration. Partial belonging is still maintained. Unbelonging develops into a habit. His concept of self is profoundly shaped by racial marginalisation and colonial memory. This fracture becomes worse by emotional neglect. Relationships reveal hidden anguish, especially with Emma. Instead of being absent, silence becomes a means of survival. The loss increases when the narrator return back to Zanzibar. Repetition and self-control cause trauma connecting individual pain with societal history. Gurnah portrays refugees as more than a matter of physical movement. It is also a psychological condition shaped by displacement. The unnamed narrator remains suspended between homeland and hostland, unable to find stability in either space. In Admiring Silence, home does not appear as a fixed place. Instead, it emerges as something fragile and continually reshaped by the experience of migration. Identity becomes a negotiated space formed by memory, silence and violence. It also reflecting the fragmented realities of refugee life.