In Tanzania, Gurnah’s Nobel Prize win sparks both joy and debate
Al Jazeera
Many Tanzanians acknowledge recognition of Gurnah’s work but others question whether they can claim author as their own.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – The awarding of the Nobel Prize in literature to Zanzibar-born writer Abdulrazak Gurnah has drawn celebration and sparked lively debate over identity in Tanzania.
Many in the country acknowledge the recognition of Gurnah’s work among the handful of African novelists to have won the prestigious prize, but others question whether Tanzanians can truly claim the England-based writer as their own.
Gurnah, whose body of work includes 10 novels, left Tanzania’s archipelago of Zanzibar as a refugee for United Kingdom in late 1967, three years after a revolution which sought to end the political dominance of the minority Arab population over the African majority. The following months and years were dominated by deep division, tensions and vengeance.
