“HOME IN EXILE” IN LEILA ABOULELA’S FICTION
“HOME IN EXILE” IN LEILA ABOULELA’S FICTION

Summary/Abstract: Postcolonial literature is becoming bolder in making visible previously marginalised longings for spiritual rootedness amidst social dislocation and rootlessness. The postcolonial subject’s search for spiritual belonging is shown to co-exist with the demands of late modernity, while traditional concepts of home are problematised to include home-in-faith. Based on select short stories and a novel by Leila Aboulela, this article addresses fictional representations of home and exile, of faith lost and found in the aftermath of major mass migrations to the North. It also challenges ossified perceptions of home as inescapably linked to a place of origin. I argue that, at the heart of various dislocations, there is the possibility of alternative forms of rootedness, with home-in-faith perceived as an antidote to a fractured life.

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