Sweetness in the Belly: A Saidian and Post Saidain Post-Colonial Reading

This study aims to offer a postcolonial reading of Camilla Gibb’s Sweetness in the Belly based on the critical theory of Edward Said’ Orientalism as well as his advocate, Albert Memmi’s post-post-colonial notions. To that end, the study commences with a detailed explanation of Edward Said’s theory of postcolonial literature considering the descriptions of “orientalism”, “culture and imperialism”, “hegemony”, “othering”. This research also casts light on Sweetness in the Belly with Albert Memmi’s ‘mythmaking’ and ‘nominal generalization’. To commence with, the researcher believes that the character of Lilly as the alter-ego of the writer Camilla Gibb is consciously trying to depict the people of Africa in a positive attitude. However, using the critical theories, the researcher delves into analyzing the novel with a critical Saidian eye and claims that Lilly represents Africans not as the way they really are but, in contrast, as an imaginary construct which consists of some inferior creatures compared to their European counterparts. Furthermore, although Lilly seems to be considering herself as one member of the African community, she is, in fact, making them an “Other” although this process of Othering is depicted in a way that Lilly is both the other and the one who displays others to the reader. The researcher, at this point, turns towards the question of discourse and argues that the colonial discourse causes nominal generalizations and myths about the Africans and Muslims, resulting in their subjugation and suppression.