It is a reflective journey detailing what it takes for a regular Nigerian girl, Ifemelu – to become an ‘Americanah’ – which on the go, exposes you to the rungs of blackness in America.
Ifemelu, a self-assured young girl much in love with Obinze, came to America, with dreams like other African immigrants, only to find out that she is a not an Igbo, but just a black in America. Like others she is excited to initially adopt American-ness: identity, accent, hair, in that order.
Her love for Obinze stays buried all through her unfurling into womanhood. She nonchalantly drifts through her depressing disappointments as well as unforeseen joys as she babysits her cousin Dike, joins the university, struggles to find a job to pay off her rent, babysits Kimberley’s children, meets her boyfriend Curt, and then Blaine. Her outlet is her popular blog - ‘Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known As Negroes) by a Non-American Black – which is good to be a reference guide to follow ethnicity in America, UK as well as Africa. Here, she laments the African ‘wannabe’ desperation as she peels off American racial layering for you – in America, tribalism is alive. There are four kinds – class, ideology, region and race…. White is always on the top, specifically White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, and American Black is always on the bottom, and whats in the middle depends on time and place.’
Finally, she discards it all to be closer to self again – where in lies the essence of Americanah. However, once back to Africa, she finds herself at the same crossroads with Obinze- now rich, married with a daughter.
Chimamanda is exuberant with her plotting of characters with the approach – give you hindsight, give you foresight – painting a first-hand experience of the place or character she unveils.
Chimamanda’s mastery at political relevance, geography, emphatic yet global view of her subjects leaves you with an after halo like that of a true story.
The author is an Indian freelance copywriter. Originally, an engineer by education as well as profession, her love for books makes her an indulgent writer. Her current work profile includes writing for advertising, editorials and film scripts. She also enjoys writing poetry and short stories.
About Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Emerged as one of the finest writers of African descent. Chimamanda commands profound understanding of ethnicity (both, African and American) and its influences thereof – and uses the same to etch her characters. Her keenness on painting the subtleties of her characters suffuses a deep sense of familiarity to even the uninitiated. She seems to be extremely observant and absorbent of her environment. Her realist fiction is very consuming, knowledgeable, judgmental, a literary masterpiece – all at once. Her language, style and rendition reflect her academic profile, origin and background.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in 1977, in Enugu, Nigeria, to Igbo parents. She grew up in the university town of Nsukka in southeastern Nigeria, along with five siblings.
Completing her secondary education at the University’s school, she went on to study medicine and pharmacy at the University of Nigeria for a year and a half. During this period, she edited The Compass, a magazine run by the University’s Catholic medical students.
At an early age of 19, Chimamanda left Nigeria and moved to the United States. She gained a scholarship to study communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia for two years, and she went on to pursue a degree in communication and political science at Eastern Connecticut State University. In 2003, she completed a master’s degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University. In 2008, she received a Master of Arts in African studies from Yale University.
Chimamanda has been a Hodder fellow at Princeton University during the 2005-2006 academic year. In 2008, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She has also been awarded a 2011-2012 fellowship by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
Her bibliography:
Having started her writing career in 1997, with a prose and a play; Chimamanda became critically acclaimed for her deftness at weaving impressions and oppressions of Nigerian civil war and the insecurities of the African women – into flowing fiction. She also scrutinise dissues faced by Immigrants in the West, ranging from language and financial constraints to more afflictive problems of abuse and identity, through her latest novel Americanah.
Chimamanda is married, and she divides her time between Nigeria, where she teaches writing workshops, and the United States. Says Adichie, ‘I just write. I have to write. I like to say that I didn’t choose writing, writing chose me. This may sound slightly mythical, but I sometimes feel as if my writing is something bigger than I am.’
Email: ruchiahuja29@gmail.com
Conceived by Kalyan Mukherjee, Consulting Editor, Africa Rising
Research & Advertising by Aman Ramrakha
Ifemelu, a self-assured young girl much in love with Obinze, came to America, with dreams like other African immigrants, only to find out that she is a not an Igbo, but just a black in America. Like others she is excited to initially adopt American-ness: identity, accent, hair, in that order.
Her love for Obinze stays buried all through her unfurling into womanhood. She nonchalantly drifts through her depressing disappointments as well as unforeseen joys as she babysits her cousin Dike, joins the university, struggles to find a job to pay off her rent, babysits Kimberley’s children, meets her boyfriend Curt, and then Blaine. Her outlet is her popular blog - ‘Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known As Negroes) by a Non-American Black – which is good to be a reference guide to follow ethnicity in America, UK as well as Africa. Here, she laments the African ‘wannabe’ desperation as she peels off American racial layering for you – in America, tribalism is alive. There are four kinds – class, ideology, region and race…. White is always on the top, specifically White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, and American Black is always on the bottom, and whats in the middle depends on time and place.’
Finally, she discards it all to be closer to self again – where in lies the essence of Americanah. However, once back to Africa, she finds herself at the same crossroads with Obinze- now rich, married with a daughter.
Chimamanda is exuberant with her plotting of characters with the approach – give you hindsight, give you foresight – painting a first-hand experience of the place or character she unveils.
Chimamanda’s mastery at political relevance, geography, emphatic yet global view of her subjects leaves you with an after halo like that of a true story.
The author is an Indian freelance copywriter. Originally, an engineer by education as well as profession, her love for books makes her an indulgent writer. Her current work profile includes writing for advertising, editorials and film scripts. She also enjoys writing poetry and short stories.
About Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Emerged as one of the finest writers of African descent. Chimamanda commands profound understanding of ethnicity (both, African and American) and its influences thereof – and uses the same to etch her characters. Her keenness on painting the subtleties of her characters suffuses a deep sense of familiarity to even the uninitiated. She seems to be extremely observant and absorbent of her environment. Her realist fiction is very consuming, knowledgeable, judgmental, a literary masterpiece – all at once. Her language, style and rendition reflect her academic profile, origin and background.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in 1977, in Enugu, Nigeria, to Igbo parents. She grew up in the university town of Nsukka in southeastern Nigeria, along with five siblings.
Completing her secondary education at the University’s school, she went on to study medicine and pharmacy at the University of Nigeria for a year and a half. During this period, she edited The Compass, a magazine run by the University’s Catholic medical students.
At an early age of 19, Chimamanda left Nigeria and moved to the United States. She gained a scholarship to study communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia for two years, and she went on to pursue a degree in communication and political science at Eastern Connecticut State University. In 2003, she completed a master’s degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University. In 2008, she received a Master of Arts in African studies from Yale University.
Chimamanda has been a Hodder fellow at Princeton University during the 2005-2006 academic year. In 2008, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She has also been awarded a 2011-2012 fellowship by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
Her bibliography:
- Purple Hibiscus (2003) was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction (2004) and was awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (2005).
- Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) – her 2nd novel was named after the flag of the short-lived nation of Biafra, based around the Biafran War. It was awarded the 2007 Orange Prize for fiction.
- The Thing Around Your Neck (2009) was widely acclaimed for its short stories.
- Americanah (2013) was selected by the New York Times as one of The 10 Best Books of 2013.
Having started her writing career in 1997, with a prose and a play; Chimamanda became critically acclaimed for her deftness at weaving impressions and oppressions of Nigerian civil war and the insecurities of the African women – into flowing fiction. She also scrutinise dissues faced by Immigrants in the West, ranging from language and financial constraints to more afflictive problems of abuse and identity, through her latest novel Americanah.
Chimamanda is married, and she divides her time between Nigeria, where she teaches writing workshops, and the United States. Says Adichie, ‘I just write. I have to write. I like to say that I didn’t choose writing, writing chose me. This may sound slightly mythical, but I sometimes feel as if my writing is something bigger than I am.’
Email: ruchiahuja29@gmail.com
Conceived by Kalyan Mukherjee, Consulting Editor, Africa Rising
Research & Advertising by Aman Ramrakha