The article concludes that Americanah is a representative example of transmodern fiction that captures both the challenges and the opportunities created by the mobility, transnational and transcultural reality of our times. By examining different forms of social discrimination Ifemelu encounters during her long stay in America, and the agency she gains by setting up a blog to openly express her views and those of her readers, my analysis shows the importance of an intersectional approach for understanding and encompassing the multidimensionality of women’s experiences in today’s interconnected world. In 2008 Adichie received a MacArthur Foundation fellowship. Given the centrality of digital platforms in Americanah and their impact and ubiquity in modern societies, the essay examines cyberspace as a tool for identity formation, specifically of Ifemelu, the novel’s Nigerian female protagonist, and as a platform that enhances transnational solidarity by offering female migrants the opportunity to be heard and gain agency. I'm still pressing it on strangers it rests comfortably in my top five favorite books published in the decade.This article analyses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s most recent novel, Americanah (2013), which brings to the fore the complex issues faced by female migrants in a globalized world. That book, about the life of two sisters during the Nigerian-Biafran War, won the Orange Prize for Fiction six years ago. The story begins with an electricity familiar to readers of Adichie's previous novel, Half of a Yellow Sun. She interacts with the women there and remembers her past. In the U.S., those two identities combine for experiences dark and light that Adichie skillfully renders in gray scale. Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman living in America, gets her hair braided at an African salon.

Indeed, it's more powerful than that in Americanah, because Ifemelu experiences America both as a black woman and as an African woman. It's also about the lonely but privileged perspective a stranger gains by entering a new culture. It's a story of relocation, far-flung love and life as an alien, spread across three continents. In Americanah, a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, moves to the United States for school, leaving behind her boyfriend, Obinze, and her family. And if you think racism expired when President Obama was elected, this is perhaps not - or absolutely is - the book for you.

Because things natives don't see about themselves often stand out like neon to foreign eyes. In particular, books that address our biggest problems - in this case, race. What we need more of, judging by the strengths of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's new book, are novels about coming to America. How?Īmerican literature has plenty of coming-of-age novels. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Americanah Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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