Volume : IV, Issue : XI, November - 2014

Unmasking Racism in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s Americanah

Sajna P

Abstract :

The title of the novel refers to the nickname given to Nigerians who move to the US then back to their native soil, taking back with them an array of affectations and snobberies about Nigeria and its differences with the West. Ifemelu, the lead protagonist of the novel, is herself an ‘Americanah’.Beginning when they are a teenage couple in Nigeria, we follow the lives of Ifemelu and Obinze across three countries, taking in the US and UK when the characters move there respectively. Middle class and well–educated, each find their relocation is a shock to the system when they are confronted simultaneously by the differences in culture and values, and also the fact that in the West, status and class is tied to nationality and skin colour.Weaved into the dominant love story are the narratives of racism, displacement, migration, border–crossing and borderlessness, liberalism, Nigerian middle class apathy, Nigerian ruling class exploitation, colourism and its cousin, hairism, and white American do–gooders. The novel begins with Ifemelu’s point of view, and maintains it save for a few sections that allows us a glimpse of Obinze’s thoughts

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijar  

Cite This Article:

Sajna P Najmh Unmasking Racism in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah Indian Journal of Applied Research, Vol.4, Issue : 11 November 2014

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