The Figure of the Refugee or the Limits of Binary Thinking A Post-Migratory Approach to Mohamed Mbougar Sarr's Silence du chœur.

This article examines Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s Silence du chœur as a critique of the compartmentalization inherent in refugee status and its impact on our understanding of migration. The analysis begins by revealing how the concept of the refugee perpetuates binary divisions rooted in colonial thought. Building on this premise, the study explores the poetics of space as a mechanism for rejecting these binary divisions, positioning refugees not within the confines of camps but at the very heart of urban life. Aligning with postmigrant perspectives, which engage with postcolonial theories, Sarr’s novel articulates a poetics that ‘demigrantizes’ the refugee and explores the vision of a pluralistic future for contemporary European societies.