Kamal Al-Solaylee explores the meaning of home to immigrants — including where he wants to be buried
Every immigrant story has returning home as part of it, says author and journalist
Story originally published on Dec. 20, 2021. Audio originally broadcast Sept. 14, 2021.
Immigration stories are complex, but their broad motivations often focus on leaving one's homeland to escape corruption, conflict or poverty, then finding a new home in a new country.
But according to author Kamal Al-Solaylee, an immigrant's journey isn't complete until they return to the homeland they tried leaving behind.
"I think every immigrant story has return as part of it," he told The Current's Matt Galloway.
I would say that as long as there's been immigration or exile, there's been return. It is sort of baked into the very movement of people across continents and countries.-Kamal Al-Solaylee
It's the central theme of his latest book, Return: Why We Go Back to Where We Come From. In it, he explores what it means — for immigrants, in particular — to call somewhere home.
Shortly after leaving his native Yemen due to British decolonization, Al-Solaylee found refuge in Lebanon and then Egypt. He soon made his way to England to complete his PhD, before moving to Canada in 1996.
Al-Solaylee spoke to Galloway in September about the desire among some immigrants like himself to return to their motherlands — and how graves are the "ultimate expression" of where one belongs.
Here's part of their conversation.
The book starts with this question that not a lot of us, to be honest, are grappling with before we have to. The question is: Where do you want to be buried? Why did you want to start this book there?
I couldn't think of anything that says, "This is home, this is the soil, this is the land that I belong to" … [than] if you choose to be buried in your homeland.
It seemed to me to connect this inexplicable desire with, literally, the land that you are connected to.
As I mentioned in the book, it was a question that took me by surprise, because it was my partner at the time who asked me that question as we were walking down Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Midtown Toronto. And it's interesting. The question is almost nine years old now, and has lingered ever since.
Why do you think that is?
I think for me, the one question that sort of underwrites all of my books and my writing is this idea of "Where do I belong? Where is home?" And the question has lingered because it forced me to confront that.
Yes, I've moved to Toronto, and yes, I've moved to Canada, and I've had — and I'm still having — a wonderful life.… But there's a part of me that doesn't feel completely connected to it, and there's a part of me that still thinks that the land of my ancestors is where I should spend, probably, the end of my life and where I should probably be buried.
When you spoke with people broadly, what did you learn about why it is that people want to go back to where they came from?
If I were to put it down to one observation, I would say that as long as there's been immigration or exile, there's been return. It is sort of baked into the very movement of people across continents and countries.
The only reason this may not be talked about enough is that sometimes return is very hard to quantify or to analyze, because the countries don't necessarily keep data about who's returned to their homeland. And return itself can be multidirectional. People go to their homeland and then can come back to their adopted country and then go back.
So return as a phenomenon is much harder to study [and] to analyze than, say, immigration, which those countries tend to keep records.
It is the most organic, the most natural human desire [to return].- Al-Solaylee
Tell me more about that. Why is it that, as you say in the book, liberals in particular, think of immigration as unidirectional? When we speak about migration, why don't we talk about return?
I think there is perhaps a misconception that return implies defeat, or at least that the host country has failed in its duty of care towards newcomers.
The countries that have large numbers of immigrants have always cast themselves as the kind of safe haven for migrants and refugees and exiles. And when some of these people decide that, "You know what? This is not working. I'm going back to where I come from" … in my opinion, some of the people who are sort of talking about immigration or planning immigration policies tend to see that as a kind of a slap in the face or an insult to the host country, when it shouldn't be.
It is the most organic, the most natural human desire [to return]. And some people will immigrate, will have great success, will always have a piece of, say, Canada as part of their lives, but can still also choose to go back to their country of origin.
At the end of this book, you say that you're longing to return, the desire to return is an obsession. This is a grim question to ask, but have you figured out where you want to be buried?
I would like to be buried in Aden, [Yemen], to be perfectly honest. I'd like to be buried very close to my grandparents. I'd like to end my days in Aden.
And that's where you believe you belong?
I think belonging is very complex, but if I have to choose, I would choose to go back to my roots.
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I think that's an answer that would probably not go down very well with many, many listeners. It doesn't even sit well with my friends when I mention it.
Why do you think this wouldn't go down well, as you say, with listeners or your friends?
I think I go back to that point where the arc of an immigrant success story has some predictable elements to it, and one of them is sort of loyalty and love for [the] adopted homeland, which I do have…. And yet, any duality in that belonging is seen as less than gratefulness for the host country.
I'm always amazed at how many of my friends refer to me or refer to other people in our circle as, you know, success stories … and I'm so grateful to Canada for all of that.
But I also want to propose that I could have that and also… don't begrudge me the right to also want to go back to the roots, to go back to the motherland.
Written by Mouhamad Rachini. Produced by Samira Mohyeddin. This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.
