Hope in Migratory Literature: Moshin Hamid, Exit West and Hassan Blasim, God 99

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterScientificpeer-review

Abstract

This contribution considers the concept of ‘hope’, using it as a lens to
scrutinize migratory experiences as described in two contemporary novels. Both
texts open a fctional sphere that investigates worldly social and political issues,
while also critically refecting on the representational regime. The novels consider
migratory experiences and, albeit differently, expand on hopeful perspectives for the future. While investigating literary fiction, this article also establishes a hermeneutic dialogue with Ernst Bloch’s thinking of hope and utopia as done in The Principle of Hope (written in the 1930s and published in 1954–59). The main claim of this contribution is that the coalescence of literature and philosophy manifests a specific type of social knowledge on migratory experiences. Literary research – as a specific form of research in the humanities – could have a more central role in migration studies.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationScience, Religion, the Humanities and Hope
Subtitle of host publicationEssays in Honour of Willem B. Drees
EditorsAnne Runehov, Michael Fuller
PublisherSpringer International
Chapter13
Pages181-197
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-031-52292-5
ISBN (Print)9783031522918
Publication statusPublished - May 2024

Publication series

NameIssues in Science and Religion: Publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology
PublisherSpringer
Volume8
ISSN (Print)2364-5717
ISSN (Electronic)2364-5725

Keywords

  • fiction
  • hope
  • migration
  • Not-Yet
  • passage
  • polyphony
  • religion

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