Construction of Diasporic Female Identities in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah

Abstract

As there are different attitudes in formulating gender identity and consequently defining what a woman is, the issue of identity and female perception as one of the major concerns occupying the attention of feminists has always been polemical. As its theoretical framework, the study draws upon the fluid nature of identity as defined through the lens of ethnicity and gender which in turn constitutes homeland identity for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The homeland identity and identity abroad are two different scenarios and worlds which have shaped the habitus of Ifemelu the protagonist and which develop her character accordingly. Identity is always something that negotiates Ifemelu's external and internal worlds. Meanings are wrongly attached to skin color which comprises the basic idea undergirding the sectionalizing of humanity. Therefore, gender is not a steady identity whence various acts proceed. Rather it is an identity constituted through the conventional recurrence of normative gender roles and recitals. The study thus focuses on how homeland identity and identity abroad are constructed and shape her own self as per constructed identity. Ifemelu's identity construction is studied via her intimacy with the characters of Obinze, Curt, and Blaine by adopting the theoretical lens furnished on the African diaspora by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza. The different nature of relationships that define character and identity for Ifemelu is examined through Zeleza's notions on the contemporary African diaspora.