ABSTRACT
The present chapter examines the dystopian migrant aesthetic in Harare North (2009) by Brian Chikwava, On Black Sisters’ Street (2009) by Chika Unigwe, and We Need New Names (2013) by NoViolet Bulawayo, with focus on the following themes or tropes: the economic migrant, victimhood, agency, and the return. The novels have received a great deal of scholarly attention and the chapter takes stock of earlier studies, investigating to what extent researchers have reinforced notions of a dystopian aesthetic in the novels. This emphasizes the need for more holistic perspectives on migration narratives as they depict and represent the migrant condition.
