‘A sense of longing she had nowhere to put’: heterotopic suburbia in Yewande Omotoso’s The Woman Next Door

Abstract

In this article I analyse how Yewande Omotoso’s depiction of the suburb as a heterotopic space is instrumental both in exposing its feuding protagonists to discomfort and forcing them to re-evaluate their memories and identities. It is through these experiences that the characters are compelled to contemplate alternative pathways towards a collaborative and symbiotic future. I argue that a heterotopic interpretation of the novel discloses an alternative cognitive-spatial realm in which established modes of thought are suspended and there is an opportunity for nuanced exploration of global histories, transnational encounters and trajectories for comprehension and conciliation.