Identity Struggle between the Orient and the Occident in Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North: A Postcolonial Rendering

Abstract

Identity becomes one of the most debatable and controversial issues in most postcolonial communities. This paper highlights the problematic issue of identity struggles in Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North using critical postcolonial theory. The paper argues that Salih uses imagery and symbolism techniques as a way of “writing back” and resisting European control. The issue of identity in the narrative is represented as unstable, unbalanced, and oscillating between the two cultures. Salih reflects his personal conflict of losing and keeping identity through characters, which simulates reality. The analysis shows how the Europeans influence the Easterners’ cultural identity as well as the middle point between the Orient and the Occident. This influence from the colonizer creates a situation of identity struggle in the colonized society, which creates a complex environment with many ramifications in determining their true identity. This study concludes that the oriental/occidental identity struggle still exists and will continue to exist as long as the West keeps its dominance over the East.

Keywords: Colonial dominance, identity, post-colonialism, Orient, Occident, Tayeb Salih