Writing-back at the German and Kiswahili Archive: Hidden Transcripts and Critical Fabulations in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels Paradise and Afterlives

Writing-back at the German and Kiswahili Archive: Hidden Transcripts and Critical Fabulations in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels Paradise and Afterlives

This article reads Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Paradise and Afterlives through the lenses of James C. Scott’s “hidden transcripts” and Saidiya Hartman’s “critical fabulation.” It argues that Gurnah’s fiction performs epistemic repair by rendering visible subaltern East African perspectives marginalized in b...

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Publicado en:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/pla,
Autores principales: Berman, Nina, Muchira, Rachel
Formato: Article ou chapitre numérique
Lenguaje:Anglais
Publicado: Postcolonial Literatures and Arts 2026
Materias:
decolonization of knowledge
hidden transcripts
critical fabulations
epistemic repair
colonial East Africa
Abdulrazak Gurnah
Acceso en línea:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
id openedition-oai:revues.org:pla_4345
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spelling openedition-oai:revues.org:pla_4345 https://doi.org/10.4000/1666s urn:doi:10.4000/1666s en https://journals.openedition.org/pla/4345 2026-05-04T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/1666s https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Writing-back at the German and Kiswahili Archive: Hidden Transcripts and Critical Fabulations in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels Paradise and Afterlives Postcolonial Literatures and Arts Société des Études Postcoloniales info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/3074-5136 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/pla Berman, Nina Muchira, Rachel decolonization of knowledge hidden transcripts critical fabulations epistemic repair colonial East Africa Abdulrazak Gurnah This article reads Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Paradise and Afterlives through the lenses of James C. Scott’s “hidden transcripts” and Saidiya Hartman’s “critical fabulation.” It argues that Gurnah’s fiction performs epistemic repair by rendering visible subaltern East African perspectives marginalized in both the German colonial archive and Swahili elite writings. The novels thus function as literary archives that complicate colonial historiography and contribute to the decolonization of knowledge about German East Africa.
collection OpenEdition Journal
language Anglais
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
topic decolonization of knowledge
hidden transcripts
critical fabulations
epistemic repair
colonial East Africa
Abdulrazak Gurnah
spellingShingle decolonization of knowledge
hidden transcripts
critical fabulations
epistemic repair
colonial East Africa
Abdulrazak Gurnah
Berman, Nina
Muchira, Rachel
Writing-back at the German and Kiswahili Archive: Hidden Transcripts and Critical Fabulations in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels Paradise and Afterlives
description This article reads Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Paradise and Afterlives through the lenses of James C. Scott’s “hidden transcripts” and Saidiya Hartman’s “critical fabulation.” It argues that Gurnah’s fiction performs epistemic repair by rendering visible subaltern East African perspectives marginalized in both the German colonial archive and Swahili elite writings. The novels thus function as literary archives that complicate colonial historiography and contribute to the decolonization of knowledge about German East Africa.
author Berman, Nina
Muchira, Rachel
author_facet Berman, Nina
Muchira, Rachel
author_sort Berman, Nina
title Writing-back at the German and Kiswahili Archive: Hidden Transcripts and Critical Fabulations in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels Paradise and Afterlives
title_short Writing-back at the German and Kiswahili Archive: Hidden Transcripts and Critical Fabulations in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels Paradise and Afterlives
title_full Writing-back at the German and Kiswahili Archive: Hidden Transcripts and Critical Fabulations in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels Paradise and Afterlives
title_fullStr Writing-back at the German and Kiswahili Archive: Hidden Transcripts and Critical Fabulations in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels Paradise and Afterlives
title_full_unstemmed Writing-back at the German and Kiswahili Archive: Hidden Transcripts and Critical Fabulations in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels Paradise and Afterlives
title_sort writing-back at the german and kiswahili archive: hidden transcripts and critical fabulations in abdulrazak gurnah’s novels paradise and afterlives
publisher Postcolonial Literatures and Arts
publishDate 2026
container_title URI:https://journals.openedition.org/pla
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/1666s
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/pla/4345
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