Displacement in NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names

Abstract

Displacement has been a major theme in African literature and, arguably, a central preoccupation of African diasporic fiction on migration. This article examines three intertwined levels of displacement in NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names (London: Vintage, 2013). The first level is the internal displacement suffered by Zimbabweans in the aftermath of Operation Murambatsvina in 2005, which was purportedly aimed at cleansing urban areas of rubbish. The second level concerns the resultant emigration of Zimbabweans to other southern African countries to escape poverty. The third is exemplified by the illegal emigration of Bulawayo’s protagonist, Darling, to the USA. I argue that the three levels of displacement are rooted in the abjection induced by political, economic, and social disintegration. The analysis reveals why the characters in We Need New Names cannot enjoy the Afropolitan identity of characters in the works of diasporic authors like Taiye Selasi and Ngozi Chimamanda Adichie. The analysis counters Helon Habila’s criticism of Bulawayo’s novel as “poverty porn” and adds context to the discourse on migration, both legal and illegal, within and out of Africa.