Witnessing Without Knowing: Refugee Trauma in Onjali Q. Raúf’s Boy at the Back of the Class

Abstract

Political and cultural developments in the twenty-first century have profoundly reshaped the thematic landscape of children’s literature. Experiences that were once considered unsuitable for young readers now find space for discussion. Among these are narratives of war, displacement, and forced migration, which raise ethical questions about how such experiences can be conveyed without overwhelming the child reader. This article examines Onjali Q. Raúf ’s Boy at the Back of the Class (2018) by shifting attention away from the direct representation of the refugee child’s inner experience toward the narrative position of the child narrator as a witness. Drawing on trauma theory (Anne Whitehead, Cathy Caruth), theories of child focalization (Maria Nikolajeva), postmemory (Marianne Hirsch), and studies of displacement (Madelaine Hron), as well as Judith Herman’s understanding of safety and solidarity, the analysis argues that refugee trauma in the novel is mediated through narrative distance, linguistic constraint, and fragmentary disclosure. Rather than tracing therapeutic healing, the novel foregrounds material conditions, social relationships, and collective action. From this perspective, Boy at the Back of the Class invites a reconsideration of the Bildungsroman by shifting attention from the refugee child to the ethical
formation of the narrator as a witness.