insistence of the formerly colonized people on affirming dual, if not multiple citizenship
that involves former imperial metropolis. Reckoned perhaps more explicitly as the crisis
of colonial and postcolonial holdovers, both the postcolonial migrant and the former
imperial colonist find each other perennially drawn into negotiations and renegotiations
of their previous relationships and how it should bear on the present. But more often than
not, there is never a time a mutually palliative compromise can be reached. Perhaps the
only reason for this is the flawed historical process of the master-servant relationship that
preceded this negotiation. The enabling aura of redefinition of roles to the level of
equality especially with respect to the journey of the formerly colonized to the western
metropolis will continue to jar the serenity of the imperial metropolis. Since the
colonialist’s earlier travel and domination in the colony was without negotiation, it is just
logical that the formerly colonized should express reservations about the erecting of
bottlenecks in his current journey, redolent of the colonialist, to the metropolis.
Albert Memmi’s (2006: 79) analogy of this tension is that of claim and counter claim:
while the colonialist from hindsight may want to declare plaintively “paid in full”, as a
way of claiming to have succeeded with civilizing the colonies, and spreading of the
benefits of modernity, the formerly colonized contend that “They’ve stolen enough from
us! Now they owe us compensation!” Back home the compensation is perceived to be
essentially tied to journeys, after all, the impact of colonialism was felt most through the
signification of travel. So “We didn’t ask them for visas when they wanted to come
here”. The failure to resolve the albatross of the historical past is most often highlighted
in the tendency to deny exiles and migrants their place of dignity in the West and their
reaction of circumventing and protesting the attempt to be excluded from the social
benefits and rights of the metropolis. The solidarity that the consciousness inspires is as
bold as it is discomforting to the metropolis:
So, define her separately,
She’s not just another
Castaway washed up your
Rough seas like driftwood,
It’s the nameless battles
Your sages burden her
People that broke her back;
Define him differently,