African Diaspora Literature: A tool for Sustainable Development using Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah

Abstract

Stories in Nigerian Literature carry a unique ability to teach, admonish and denounce while representing a way to fight conventional issues in Nigeria and beyond. This paper deals with issues of national identity and diasporic experiences of Nigerians in other countries, through the perspectives of Nigerian authors. Recent writings by Nigerian author re-write Nigerian sojourn in alien nations and exodus from Nigeria from the perspectives of diaspora. In analyzing the novel under review, we focused on the relationship between subjects /characters and actions. Its main focus is on the issues of sex trafficking, racial segregation, gender discrimination, migration, nationality and dual identity. These issues tend to hinder efforts of the Nigerian nation to achieve nationhood. The paper also provides insights into the hybridity of the migrant experience, where the migrant struggles to negotiate new cultural spaces. It shows that while some migrants successfully adapt and integrate into new Western locales, others exist at the margins unable to fully negotiate cultural differences. The diaspora becomes a space for opportunities and economic mobility, as well as alienation and uncertainties. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this study, we have adopted New Historicism as a theoretical framework for the analysis of the characters and their actions. Finally, the study suggests that there is need to incorporate into national discuss raised by novelists on national identity and diasporic experiences in this era of globalization for sustainable development.