Fatou Diome’s Le ventre de l’Atlantique: re-configuring local discourses of emigration

Abstract

This article uses Wolof idioms related to Senegalese migration to France such as dem ci kaaw bi (to go to the cave/France) and dem Jolof (to go back to Jolof/Senegal) in order to read Fatou Diome's Le ventre de l'Atlantique (The Belly of the Atlantic). It argues that the novel mimics the polysemy of these terms and coins a new one: toog Jolof (to stay/remain in Senegal) as an alternative to clandestine migration.

Keywords:

• Fatou Diome
• le ventre de l’Atlantique
• emigration
• immigration
• Wolof language
• home

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marame Gueye

Marame Gueye is Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Literatures at ECU. Her research interests are on the verbal art of African women, female representation in Senegalese popular culture, Hip Hop, and immigration.