Navigating diaspora: An experience of female characters of African descent in selected novels by African female writers

Abstract

The emigration of female characters of African descent in Adichie’s Americanah, Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers, Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street and Darko’s Beyond the Horizon from Africa to Europe and the United States of America is initially filled with hope for their perceived utopian world. Leaving what was their home for the better part of their lives, places they would easily identify with, to alien borders in which they would have to restart their lives excited them. This feeling results from a state of ‘double consciousness’, described by postcolonial theorists as a perception of the world divided between two antagonistic cultures. The female characters’ perception of the first world as ideal counters their perception of Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon as homes which have not provided a sense of fulfilment to their lives, thus prompting emigration from their respective indigenous homes to the first world. This paper entails an analytical discussion of the relationships among female characters of African descent and other characters as a way of negotiating their stay in diaspora. This paper is guided by concepts of Sisterhood as argued by Rosezellle and bell hooks; and concepts of postcolonial theory including unhomeliness and othering as articulated by Bhabha and Spivak.