Migrants and refugees in Mohamed: Um menino afegão, by Fernando Vaz

Abstract

Because young adult literature is geared towards a specific audience made up of young readers, it plays an important role in the reflection on human mobility in the contemporary world and the impasses that arise from the need to live together. Mohamed: um menino afegão, by Fernando Vaz (2002), tells the story of a Muslim boy living through the war in Afghanistan. Through analysis of the narrative, this article aims to show how Vaz's book presents compositional strategies that provide the reader with both empathy for and estrangement from the culture of the other. As such, we engage with the considerations of Maria Zilda Cury (2006), Fanny Mahy (2016), Zygmunt Bauman (2017), among others.