Border Renegotiation and the Quest for Safe Space in Helon Habila's Travelers and Uzodinma Iweala's Speak No Evil

Student: Divine Ujunwa Okorie (Project, 2025)
Department of English and Literary Studies
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State

Abstract

The symbolic status of border from the late twentieth century looks beyond border as a physical line, but as a social factor which conditions how individuals live in a society. Here, borders become more and more invisible, socially-oriented and affects the identity of even individuals living in the same territorial zone. The symbolic nature of border is significant in the way it makes negotiation and renegotiation possible at the border frontiers. Using border theorizations, particularly the models of Schimanski, Anzaldua, Newman and Okolie, this study interrogates the social borders in Helon Habila’s Travelers and Iweala’s Speak No Evil as offshoots of physical crossings. This study investigates the individual character’s awareness of the borders and how this awareness inspires a renegotiation, geared towards adjusting the border formations for accommodations and safe space.

Keywords
border border renegotiation safe space Habila’s Travelers and Iweala’s Speak No Evil.
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