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CC BY 4.0

A contribution to: Voyages

Edited by Emily Di Dodo and Rachel Hayes

MHRA Working Papers in the Humanities 18

Modern Humanities Research Association

open

Abstract.  Travel is a recursive theme in postcolonial literature, for many postcolonial writers address their migrant experience or that of their families, and frequently speak to the diasporic communities in European countries. In her novel La linea del colore (The Color Line), Somali-Italian writer Igiaba Scego explores, among other topics, the idea of travel through the lives of three Black female characters, namely Lafanu Brown, Leila, and Binti. Moving between the past and the present, the Black Atlantic and the Black Mediterranean, Scego creates a significant connection between slavery, colonialism, and today’s migrations through the central Mediterranean route. Lafanu Brown, who represents the past, is an American artist who manages to change her life by travelling to Italy. Leila, who symbolises the present, is an Italian art curator who is free to travel thanks to her ‘strong’ Italian passport. Binti, who embodies future generations, is a young Somali woman who wants to leave her country and move to Europe. Thinking about the Black Mediterranean, in the first part of this article I examine the concept of ‘the color line’ and the way Scego deploys it in this novel. Then, I focus on (im)possible travels and analyse how Scego intervenes in the current debate about migrations in the Mediterranean.

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