Displacement in selected novels by Bessie Head

Abstract

The poetry collection A Place to Night In features themes of place, home and belonging. The author uses his own experiences as a springboard for a wider engagement on displacement, diverse landscapes, attachment to place and sense of community.

In the literary-analytical component, the author critically examines how Bessie Head grapples with displacement in When Rain Clouds Gather (1969) and Maru (1971). This theme is significant given Head’s personal struggles with displacement. It is also relevant in Southern Africa, where many people or their forebears have experienced dislocation and involuntary migration due to colonialism and other coercive political systems.

Through detailed textual analysis, this study explores how the lead characters navigate displacement, including their strategies for dealing with local elites, ordinary villagers, and their inner strengths and weaknesses. Several factors influence whether the characters can overcome displacement, including power relations, dominant attitudes in the destination village, each character’s tenacity and the possibilities for developing relationships between the locals and the newcomer. The text draws on the work of scholars such as Probyn (1996), Flusser (2005), Antonsich (2010) and Lähdesmäki et al. (2016) as the study explores and apply ideas such as ‘home’ and belonging, concepts which come to the fore in any discussion of displacement.