Geographies of Cultural and Maritime Interactions

As is often the case, space is understood in quantitative dimensions and excludes emotions. This article employs Geocriticism as a qualitative analysis to elevate the importance of emotions in understanding people–place relationships. While exploring the spatial dynamics of the coastal spaces of Zanzibar and Mombasa in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s novel Desertion, the study examines how people respond to these spaces emotionally. As a historically traversed space, the geographies of these spaces host possibilities of varied identity crises. In reflecting upon how a space is cluttered with emotions and transformed into a place, this study affirms that space is not just a quantitative phenomenon, but is saturated with emotions, leading to the creation of multiple perceptions of the space. The study also shows that the profound political dimensions and power hierarchies within spatial structures are responsible for shaping subjective experiences of space, thereby determining the people–space relationship and the creation of varied identities of space.