Return to the local: Celles qui attendent and Fatou Diome’s diasporic commitment

Abstract

Twenty-first-century African literature is characterized by transnational affinities rather than a national and local approach. The hegemonic postcolonial theory has solidified the postnational paradigm by focusing on delocalized metaphors. In her novel Celles qui attendent (2010), Fatou Diome explores the often-silenced aspect of diasporic literary discourse: the harsh realities of those who do not directly benefit from the logic of transnationalism and continue to endure the precarities of the national postcolonial condition. This article aims to explore the complex dimensions of Diome’s commitment.