Listening to Silence: Media and Intergenerational Memory in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s <i>The Last Gift</i>

This article examines the interplay between media technologies and intergenerational memory in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s The Last Gift by conceptualising media as a mnemonic apparatus operating through three stages of mediation. First, the radio functions as a unidirectional colonial instrument, instigating a psychological fracture and foundational silence in the father, Abbas, revealing the ongoing colonial trauma. Second, media reshape the perceptual structures of diasporic generations; whereas the first generation remains entangled in repressed anger and silence, the second generation utilises media to decipher and dismantle imperial logic. Finally, multi-sensory media emerge as a site of intellectual labour, fostering a hospitable mode of listening to negotiate mnemonic exclusion. By reclaiming fragmented and deferred narratives through this ethics of “listening to silence”, the novel transforms memory from a static archive into a dynamic relationship, establishing an ethical space for human co-existence grounded in the recognition of shared vulnerability.