BEYOND THE COLONIAL WOUNDS: INTERGENERATIONAL SUFFERING IN GURNAH’S AFTERLIVES

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the postcolonial perspective of trauma in Afterlives (2020). The omniscient third-person narration reveals the characters' intergenerational trauma before, during, and after the World Wars. The textual analysis of the novel seeks to find out the impact of colonial and war atrocities on the lives of Khalifa, Bi Asha, Ilyas, Afiya, Hamza, and Ilyas Jr. The textual interpretations highlight the collective, inter and transgenerational traumatization of these individuals. Relying on the framework presented by Craps in Postcolonial Witnessing: Trauma out of Bounds (2013), the basic objective of the study is to explore the intergenerational traumas and analyze how Gurnah challenges the traditional trauma narratives through his portrayal of colonized Africans. Craps’ framework, living up to the promise of cross-cultural ethical engagement, not only contests the Eurocentric model of trauma theory but also highlights the marginalization of traumas of non-Western and minority strata and defies the universal validity of Western definition of trauma. Pivoting around this framework, this qualitative research explores the psychological dimensions of trauma within the novel, contributing to the broader discourse on postcolonial trauma studies.