Raġwā Sawdā’ (Black Foam) by Ḥāǧǧī Ǧābir: the Role of Storytelling in a Novel on the Eritrean Diaspora

Abstract: This paper explores the function and narrative structure of storytelling in Raġwā sawdā’ (Black Foam, 2018) by Eritrean-born author Ḥāǧǧī Ǧābir, within the broader context of Arab forced migration literature. Storytelling emerges as a central device through which migrants negotiate identity, seek agency, and resist the reductive frameworks of international humanitarian discourse. Drawing from the scholarship on forced migration narrative, from the ecocritical studies and from studies on Arabic literature on migration and exile I articulate the modalities and motivations underpinning the narratives on migration, how they are performed, fabricated, and weaponized by migrants navigating scepticism and legal scrutiny. Through a close textual analysis, I will demonstrate how the character’s tragic trajectory and alienation, Black Foam challenges the “affirmative Bildungsroman” paradigm, and questions the redemptive promise of human rights discourse.