Migration and the Politics of Comfort

Abstract.

Migration is one of the concepts in literature that suffers from the notion of homogeneity of motif and consequence. People do not only migrate to better themselves nowadays nor are the problems they encounter limited to the acquisition of documents. Using New Historicism and post coloniality, this paper examines the changes in trends of migration, entry/exit complexities and what it takes to be comfortable in a world replete with an undertone of racism and the possibility of xenophobic encounters in NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Priscilia M. Manjoh’s Snare.  In trying to portray societies that push and pull migrants out and in respectively, the reader is left with the impression that it is in the interest of the migrants to understand the politics of coexistence particularly in the host country prior to taking the decision to migrate because of the socio-cultural, economic and psychological implications involved that are usually overlooked. The paper rounds off with the thought that a comprehensive understanding on the impact of migration will tremendously dwindle the rate