"Doing history": Nuruddin Farah's 'Sweet and Sour Milk', subaltern studies, and the postcolonial trajectory of silence

Abstract

This essay argues that Sweet and Sour Milk, which should be understood as both a political and literary text, “does history,” which is not to say that it merely “tells” the history of postcolonial Somalia, but that it participates in a kind of historiography.

Buuggani wuxuu ku doodayaa shekadii Nuruddiin Faarax "Sweet and Sour Milk" in loo fasiran karo qoraal siyaasi iyo suugaan ah, oo kuma koobna in uu ka sheekeeyo taariikhda Soomaaliya ee gumaysiga kaddib, balse wuxuu ka qaybqaataa habka taarikh qoridda

Questo saggio sostiene che il romanzo di N. Farah 'Latte agrodolce', da interpretare come un testo sia politico che letterario, "fa la storia", ossia non si limita a "raccontare" la storia della Somalia post-coloniale, bensì partecipa alla stessa storiografia.