مقدمات
Volume 3, Numéro 1, Pages 226-237
2024-12-03

Cultural Biases Against Black Women And The Quest For Self-discovery In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah (2013)

Authors : Berkat Wafa .

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the challenges and hardships lived by the protagonist who is purely a female African immigrant as narrated in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Americanah (2013). In her third novel Americanah, Adichie tackles certain themes like racism, diasporic issues, identity crisis ,immigration and inequality. She fearlessly tackles weighty themes of race and identity, ably challenging the West’s wrong perceptions of African life and culture. In Americanah, the heroine ‘Ifemelu’ shifts to America for pursuing her higher studies; along the story , she presents a journey to self-empowerment and discovery by rejecting fiercely the cultural biases American society has tried to put upon her. What is more, alongside the novel –Ifemelu and other female characters were facing racist incidents because they were only a black woman. Nevertheless, these female characters transgressed over these situations and ended down by gaining their dignities and identities.

Keywords

America ; Black women ; Culture ; Immigration ; Self-discovery