Studia Filologiczne UJK

Summary

The purpose of the article is to present the evolution of the migrant protagonist’s identity in the works of Ken Bugul, one of the pioneers of Senegalese literature. By analysing two of her eleven novels, namely her debut Le Baobab fou and her last novel Le Trio bleu, published almost forty years later, the study compares the experiences of a young woman trying to find herself with those of a determined thirty-something man who fights for survival, in order to determine how the author’s perspective on migration has changed over the years. The article examines the protagonists’ departure from their home country, their situation in the Western society, as well as their homecoming to Senegal and its consequences. From the theoretical perspective, it is based on sociological and postcolonial works.