A postcolonial Afrocentric reading of Adichie’s novel Americanah

Abstract

This study is a postcolonial Afrocentric reading of the novel ‘Americanah’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for its application of Afrocentricity in reconstructing distorted African identity. It employed postcolonial theory and its strand, Afrocentricity, which gives a special focus to Africanism as its overarching framework. Through a qualitative approach which comprises textual analysis, the study probed how Adichie, in her novel, applied an Afrocentric perspective to reclaim African identity disparaged by colonial discourses. The findings of this textual analysis revealed that re-centering African identity, critique of European beauty standards, celebration of African narratives, challenging colonial legacies, and amplifying African diaspora experiences are the major Afrocentric themes and values treated in the novel. These themes were emphasized by Adichie’s innovative use of blogs as narrative devices, which served as tools for conscious-raising, racial identity development, critique of misrepresentation, and commodification of Blackness, particularly concerning African women and their hair. Based on the discussions held in the analysis, this paper, thus, concludes that African identity can be reconstructed even within the contexts of colonization, racial discrimination, and globalization.