“Sleepiness as a key figure to contradict light as a symbol of rebirth” in Efua Sutherland’s Foriwa

Résumé

Abstract - Something that is commonly taken for granted is that the foreigner is not the one who is seen as a native born in a given locality. The foreigner is the one that was not born in that specific locality or who’s perceived as a foreigner because his or her parents are from another locality altogether. From there we can reach the common migrant who may be seen as someone from another state or another country. The foreigner maybe made foreigner by the color of his skin whether White or Black or else. Labaran is a foreigner in the play Foriwa. How can one be a foreigner in his own country? By the very fact that you are not from the tribe, the village or the city. Chance had Labaran feeling different in his community of birth. He migrated within the limits set by a country of birth. Migration as a quest! Migration made to mean something postcolonial as well as chauvinistic. No love story could have been considered possible when self-respecting Labaran met the not in Kyerefaso working nor in Kyerefaso residing queen’s daughter. Nevertheless, their will to walk hands in hands as friends made light possible again and, utter sleepiness in the welcoming community something that could be confronted! Keywords: color – foreigner – locality – migration – postcolonial – sleepiness Résumé - Partant du principe que la figure de l’étranger est d’abord une figure locale. L’étranger est celui qui n’est pas né dans la localité ou celui qui bien que né dans la localité a des parents qui viennent d’une autre localité. De ce principe on peut aboutir à l’immigré qui est quelqu’un qui vient d’un autre pays. La figure de l’étranger peut être aussi celle ‘une couleur de peau noire en opposition par exemple à la blanche. La singularité de Labaran est à la source de son désir de migration. Le mouvement migratoire de Labaran de son lieu de naissance vers Kyerefaso est ici vécu comme quête d’une forme d’absolu aux relents quelque peu postcoloniaux et patriotiques. La possibilité d’une relation entre Labaran et Foriwa, une relation quelque peu ambigüe mais une relation pudique et amicale qui peut toutefois déboucher sur une histoire d’amour, semble donner à voir un tunnel qui s’illumine et on entraperçoit, quoique symboliquement, des sorties possibles à l’endormissement de Kyerefaso. Mots-clés : couleur - endormissement – étranger – localité – migration – postcoloniaux –