Food, Migration, and Place Consciousness in Chika Unigwe’s Better Never than Late

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, we examine the multidimensional facets of food, migration, and individuals’ sense of otherness and dis/connection to place as represented in selected fictional works from Nigeria. The article pays attention in particular to Chika Unigwe’s short story collection, Better Never than Late (2019), which explores the experiences of a group of Nigerian migrants and Europeans living in Belgium through connected stories. Drawing on the theoretical insights of postcolonialism, negofeminism, and affect theory, we explore the connectedness of African migrant personae and their sensitiveness to food and place in the fictive universe of this short story collection. We disentangle the manner in which food and the occasions of meals creatively catalyze different forms of migrant and diasporic consciousness and embodied experiences, including gender consciousness, personhood, and sociocultural angst. The article traces the representation of food in different but connected narratives of estrangement within the African diaspora. The representation of food in fictional works allows for reflection on the psychosocial and existential realities of Africans in a fluid late modern world.