Rethinking postcolonial mobilities through literature

Inspired by research that positions literary texts as capable of contributing to theoretical discussions on mobility, this article argues that literature can enable a deeper understanding of postcolonial mobilities than mainstream postcolonial literary scholarship. Although there are signs of increasing dialogue between postcolonial studies and mobilities theory, many analyses of ‘mobility’ within the field are not, strictly speaking, about mobility as such. Rather, there remains a tendency to approach mobilities metaphorically or in terms of their outcomes, as well as to equate mobility with migration in ways that disconnect it from other categories of mobility. This article addresses these tendencies while also mapping out recent developments in the study of postcolonial literary mobilities. Drawing on contemporary postcolonial literature – a travelogue by Emmanuel Iduma, a road novel by Max Lobe, and a work of narrative non-fiction by Khalid Lyamlahy – the article demonstrates how literary texts diversify discussions about postcolonial mobilities, both thematically and through their form. It approaches the texts less as objects of detailed close reading than as catalysts for theoretical thinking and argues that, unlike much postcolonial literary scholarship, they engage with the material, multiple, and relational dimensions of mobility in the global aftermath of colonialism.