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Migration, African Writing and the Post-Colonial/Diasporic Chimamanda Adichie Moment

Gender and Race Matter: Global Perspectives on Being a Woman

ISBN: 978-1-78635-038-1, eISBN: 978-1-78635-037-4

Publication date: 24 August 2016

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter examines the current incarnation of African literature as written by a younger generation, less concerned with writing back to the colonial empire, and more with examining issues of migration and the consequences of living in diaspora. It contrasts the concerns and experiences of the older generation of African writers such as Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiongo with the current generation, especially Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Mukoma wa Ngugi.

Design/methodology/approach

It engages in literary and cultural analyses of selected texts, revealing how a range of current issues, such as women’s rights, are discussed therein.

Findings

A new generation of African writers, many having already been through the migratory experience before writing, are engaging a range of issues that are no longer identical to those concerning writers of the immediate colonial experience. Issues of sexuality, migration and post-independence challenges become prominently articulated.

Originality/value

Women’s rights were raised by an earlier generation of African women writers and are seen now not so much as radical positions but as assessments of how men and women are socialised. The ways in which people are encouraged or discouraged from articulating full equality as part of the larger critique of post-independence African states is a focus.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

A version of this chapter was presented at PKU – Peking University, Beijing, China in October 2015. Thank you to my assistant Han Xiu for her consistent work during my stay at BFSU and to the students excited about African literature, who asked wonderful questions after my presentation.

Citation

Davies, C.B. (2016), "Migration, African Writing and the Post-Colonial/Diasporic Chimamanda Adichie Moment", Gender and Race Matter: Global Perspectives on Being a Woman (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 233-248. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-212620160000021001

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Limited