Living in translation: Borders, language and community in NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names

NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names is one of a growing number of novels featuring characters from various African countries who migrate to the United States that ranges from Chris Abani's The Virgin of Flames to Teju Cole's Open City, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah and Taiye Selasi's Ghana Must Go, to name just some of the best-known examples. Drawing on Sandro Mezzadra and Brett Neilson's argument about the border as method and on Naoki Sakai's theorization of homolingual and heterolingual address, this article presents a discussion of We Need New Names as a narrative shaped by the polysemic and heterogeneous figure of the border.