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
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract vi
Table of Contents vii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 4
1.3 Aim and Objectives 5
1.4 Significance of the Study 5
1.5 Theoretical Framework 6
1.6 Research Method 7
1.7 Brief Profiles of the Two Authors 7
1.8 Organisation of the Study 8
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 9
2.1 African Literature: An Overview 9
2.2. African Diasporic and Pan-African Literature 13
2.3 Afropolitanism and Identity Crises 15
2.4 Criticism and Defence of Afropolitanism 20
CHAPTER THREE: AFROPOLITANIST TENETS IN AMERICANAH AND OPEN CITY 23
3.1 Synopsis of the two books 23
3.2 Ifemelu, Obinze, Ginnika, Julius and others as Twenty-First Century Africans 23
CHAPTER FOUR: AFRODIASPORIC CRISES OF IDENTITY IN OPEN CITY AND AMERICANAH 30
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY 38
WORKS CITED 42