Afropolitanism and the Crises of Identity in Chimamanda Adichie's Americanah and Teju Cole's Open City

This is my B.A. long essay submitted to the department of English, University of Ibadan, Nigeria where I bagged Bachelor of Arts in English. 

Abstract

The experience of migration, exile, globalisation, identity, and their effects of hybridity, poly valency, Afropolitanism, cultural fusion, cross-ethnicity, transnationality and intermixture have been gaining prominence in literary productions for many decades now largely due to globalisation and increasing years of diasporic living. Afropolitanism, in particular, is a sub-narrative of Postcolonial discourse rooted in African centred cosmopolitanism. Rather than being a citizen of the world, to be an Afropolitan is to be an African of the world, that is, a global citizen with African sensibilities. Closely related with the phenomenon of Afropolitanism is identity crisis. This essay investigates the tenets of Afropolitanism and evidence of crises of identity imbued in Teju Cole’s Open City and Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah. The study concludes that the Afropoliatans, because of the many cultural influences that shape their personalities, do not categorically belong to Africa and yet, their adopted western countries are not fully theirs; hence, crises of identity.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificationii

Dedicationiii

Acknowledgementiv

Abstract vi

Table of Contentsvii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION1

1.1 Background to the Study1

1.2 Statement of the Problem4

1.3 Aim and Objectives5

1.4 Significance of the Study5

1.5 Theoretical Framework6

1.6 Research Method7

1.7 Brief Profiles of the Two Authors7

1.8 Organisation of the Study8

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW9

2.1 African Literature: An Overview9

2.2. African Diasporic and Pan-African Literature13

2.3 Afropolitanism and Identity Crises15

2.4 Criticism and Defence of Afropolitanism20

CHAPTER THREE: AFROPOLITANIST TENETS IN AMERICANAH AND OPEN CITY23

3.1 Synopsis of the two books23

3.2 Ifemelu, Obinze, Ginnika, Julius and others as Twenty-First Century Africans23

CHAPTER FOUR: AFRODIASPORIC CRISES OF IDENTITY IN OPEN CITY AND AMERICANAH30

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY38

WORKS CITED42