‘Illegal’ crossing, historical memory and postcolonial agency in Laila Lalami's Hope and other dangerous pursuits

Abstract

In the last two decades, illegal immigration has taken front stage as an issue that not only affects the economies of both home and host countries, but also brings a range of socio-cultural problems to the fore. Relationships between such cultures have additional dimensions when the two countries have shared a colonial past, such as seen in Hispano-Moroccan relations. Laila Lalami's 2005 novel, Hope and other dangerous pursuits, explores the complex economy that subtends illegal immigration by Moroccans to Spain and highlights many of the socio-economic factors that prompt immigration while exploring the deep cultural and psychological distress that often results from this transnational mobility. Through the stories of several individuals, we see how current lives continue to be haunted by past history and entrenched memories of colonialism. Such memories implicate a postcolonial politics of identity construction and othering by both Spaniards and Moroccans. This article explores how Lalami's novel illuminates these issues and highlights how the crossing is not so much geographical as much as ideological and cultural. Border crossing affects identity formation and can hasten the emergence of postcolonial agency as shaped and informed by cultural links and shared historical memory.