The Role of Food and the Politics of Belonging in Alain Mabanckou’sBlue White Red

Abstract

Writers and critics of Francophone diasporic literature have many ways of approaching thequestions of immigration and post-migration attitudes. The most consistent is their approach toAfrican diaspora through the gender lens, race, culture, identity, and marginal opportunities.Blue White Red the debut work of Congolese writer; Alain Mabanckou has been analyzedthrough the La Sape fashion movement inFrancophone migration by critics as a flipside workfor presenting characters in flipside societies. It has also been read as the proverbial multifariousdeterrent story about African youth’s transnational ambitions of accomplishment and citizenship.The functions of food in the politics of belonging for the undocumented migrant are importantlimitations in previous studies that require further research. The aim of this paper, therefore, is toaddress the ways in which Mabanckou portrays food by exploring its intense symbolism in theexperiences of undocumented migrants. This study will therefore fill the gap by investigatinghow food, food places and rituals as forms of resistance and control. It reveals that food is anempowering agency for the individual, community, as well as government. This research showshow food heightens collective memory, displacement, and socialization and enhances identityformation.