MIGRANT IDENTITY AND TRAUMA IN ABDULRAZAK GURNAH'S PILGRIMS WAY AND ADMIRING SILENCE

This paper explores the complex intersections of migrant identity and trauma in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s early two novels Pilgrims Way (1988) and Admiring Silence (1996). Gurnah articulates the lived experiences of African migrants negotiating the harsh realities of exile in Britain while bearing the weight of colonial and postcolonial histories. Through the portrayals of Daud and the unnamed narrator, Gurnah investigates the ways in which racism, alienation, memory, and silence interplay to shape fragmented migrant identities and unresolved psychological traumas. The paper, engaging with the theories of postcolonial and trauma, argues that Gurnah situates migration not as a liberating escape but as a site of continuing trauma. Through Stuart Hall’s theory of identity as becoming, Homi K. Bhabha’s concepts of hybridity and the “third space,” and Cathy Caruth’s account of traumatic belatedness the article shows the role of displacement and psychic trauma in shaping identity. The study highlights how Gurnah depicts the enduring legacies of colonialism as well as portraying the struggles of displaced individuals in exile.