Paper long abstract:

Author: Christopher E W Ouma

This paper seeks to examine the (re)current concept of Abiku childhood in view of situating it in a diasporic context in Helen Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl. Previous representations of the Abiku have been situated in a Nigerian socio-cultural and political milieu. What happens when the Abiku child is not only caught between its otherworldly concerns but also in racialised identities? This paper seeks to postulate that the representation of Abiku childhood in The Icarus Girl is a grappling with the rise of transcultural childhood(s) and identities formed out of a history of migration and (dis)placement. Yet most significantly is how the history of places ‘haunts’ an already determined Abiku childhood. Place(s) and space(s) become crucial markers that define mixed historical and racial lineages in The Icarus Girl. Childhood is used in this text as a site where myth (Abiku) intersects with place, space, race; concepts that define identity. Childhood in Diaspora then presents a platform for competing aspects of identity, making the child a potent cultural icon and/or iconoclast. The representation of childhood in The Icarus Girl ultimately pools into the debate on postmodern identities.