ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how partly autobiographical forms might be used to imagine a multiple sense of belonging. As the title of Garane's novel suggests, milk is a central image in Il latte e buono and the analysis of how it is described in the novel can give people indications about Gashan's sense of belonging. Madre piccola often envisions a collective narrative that exceeds the idea of national belonging. Many voices are present in Madre piccola and the marked representation of the spoken might be because oral transmission dominated Somali culture until 1972. The possible influence of Sette gocce di sangue on Madre piccola, Rhoda, and Oltre Babilonia can be appreciated by the presence of female networking and sisterhood that crosses familial bonds. Describing translation as a painful process of bringing together cultures and a political activity is a common thread that runs through Oltre Babilonia and Borderlands.
