REPRESENTATIONS OF DISLOCATED SUBJECTIVITIES IN RICHARD WRIGHT’S NATIVE SON, LEWIS NKOSI’S MATING BIRDS AND NURRUDIN FARAH’S MAPS

Abstract

The primary aim of this study is to examine the portrayal of dislocated subjectivities in Richard Wright's Native Son, Lewis Nkosi's Mating Birds, and Nuruddin Farah's Maps. The thesis argues that the three authors depict characters whose subjectivities have been dislocated by various social and political factors. These factors are racism and national politics. Racism is the main social cause of dislocation for characters in Native Son and Mating Birds whereas displaced nationality is the problem in Maps. Subjectivity is a complex phenomenon because it is both a condition and a process. As a condition, subjectivity is how the individual understands himself or herself. But as a process, subjectivity deals with how society impacts on a person‟s identity Dislocated subjectivity refers to the subjects‟ sense of the self that has been alienated. A dislocated subject does not have a clear sense of the self as a human being. Therefore, the starting point as a subject is one‟s humanity. In terms of theoretical framework, the study employs Jacques Lacan‟s psychoanalytic theory of the mirror stage because of the effect of racism and the problem of nationality on the characters. The theory is supported by Frantz Fanon‟s concept of desire.