A Multidimensional Transnationalism: in Between Juba and Portland in Terry Farish’s The Good Braider

Abstract

[eng] One of the main issues addressed in Terry Farish’s novel The Good Braider (2012) is the protagonist’s journey and the enormous influence that it has on her identity, which is a complex and intersectional process of creation. Identity is an ever-changing process per se which is encouraged by temporal factors that encompass the past life of migrants and its evolution in the course of time. Moreover, The Good Braider — as in most migrant literature — not only takes into account a temporal advance, but also a physical mobility — in this case, from the protagonist’s mother country, Juba, South Sudan, to Maine, United States —, which complicates the configuration of the aforementioned identity. Furthermore, transnational differences also encourage an intergenerational clash between the members of Viola’s family. For this reason, the notion of home and its creation are analysed, while devoting special attention to gender issues since the female, racialised and migrant protagonist suffers, not only the South Sudanese independence war, but a triple personal war. This paper critically analyses identity, which is physically embodied in the protagonist’s hair, as a multi-layered realisation of the self where non-places — as coined by Marc Augé — such as transportation methods or refugee camps play a paramount role in its shaping.