Rupture ontologique et mémoire coloniale dans Les jours viennent et passent de Hemley Boum

Abstract

This article offers a critical reinterpretation of Hemley Boum's Les jours viennent et passent (2019) based on a reflection on colonization as a process of ontological reconfiguration of the relationship with living beings. Drawing on postcolonial thought and decolonial ecology, particularly the work of Achille Mbembe, it aims to show how the novel depicts not only a historical rupture, but also a profound transformation of modes of perception, spirituality, and subjectivation. Through the analysis of the narration of characters such as Bouissi and Awaya, the text reveals the gradual erasure of a relational ontology of the world, based on continuity between humans, non-humans, the living and the dead, in favor of a colonial order based on binary oppositions, domination, and exploitation. Finally, this study examines the contemporary impasses resulting from this rupture, while highlighting the ambiguities and potentialities of a postcolonial subjectivity marked by hybridity.