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Africanity and New Afrodiasporans in America: Negotiating New Identity in Bulawayo’s and Mbue’s Debut Novels

Received: 27 January 2021     Accepted: 6 February 2021     Published: 31 August 2021
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Abstract

Migratory movements of Africans to the West in recent times have led to the evolvement of the new African diaspora, distinct from the old that emerged in the immediate post-transatlantic slavery era, but with both comparable in number of those involved and scope. Lived experience’s implication in new identity construct of migrants leads to this text-based exploration of how first generation male and female African migrants in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers reflect Africanity. The selected texts, which are depictions of recent African diaspora experience, are analyzed using postcolonial concepts of ‘otherness’, ‘subalternity’ and Stuart Hall’s notion of ‘cultural identity’. The outcome of the relocation of many African migrants to the West is the expression of their Africanity in distinct ways. As postcolonial subjects, contemporary African migrants have found themselves at the ‘Centre’ where the reality of their racialization and essentialization have grave consequences on their identities thereby rendering them ‘unwhole’ Africans.

Published in Science Development (Volume 2, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.scidev.20210203.14
Page(s) 49-56
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

African Diaspora, Africanity, Centre, Identity, Lived Experience, Migration

References
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[7] Frassinelli, Pier Paolo (2015). “Living in Translation: Borders, Language and Community in NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names”. Journal of Postcolonial Writing 51 (6): 711-722. Doi: 10.10801/17449855.2015.1105855.
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[19] Ponzanesi, Sandra. (2005). “Diasporic Subjects and Migration: Introduction”. Migrant Cartographies, New Cultural and Literary Spaces in Postcolonial Europe. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
[20] Selasi, Taiye. (2005). “Bye-Bye Babar.” The LIP#5 AFRICA. http://thelip.robertsharp.co.uk/?p.Web.10April2017.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Elizabeth Adesunmbo Omotayo, Edith Awogu-Maduagwu. (2021). Africanity and New Afrodiasporans in America: Negotiating New Identity in Bulawayo’s and Mbue’s Debut Novels. Science Development, 2(3), 49-56. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.scidev.20210203.14

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    ACS Style

    Elizabeth Adesunmbo Omotayo; Edith Awogu-Maduagwu. Africanity and New Afrodiasporans in America: Negotiating New Identity in Bulawayo’s and Mbue’s Debut Novels. Sci. Dev. 2021, 2(3), 49-56. doi: 10.11648/j.scidev.20210203.14

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    AMA Style

    Elizabeth Adesunmbo Omotayo, Edith Awogu-Maduagwu. Africanity and New Afrodiasporans in America: Negotiating New Identity in Bulawayo’s and Mbue’s Debut Novels. Sci Dev. 2021;2(3):49-56. doi: 10.11648/j.scidev.20210203.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.scidev.20210203.14,
      author = {Elizabeth Adesunmbo Omotayo and Edith Awogu-Maduagwu},
      title = {Africanity and New Afrodiasporans in America: Negotiating New Identity in Bulawayo’s and Mbue’s Debut Novels},
      journal = {Science Development},
      volume = {2},
      number = {3},
      pages = {49-56},
      doi = {10.11648/j.scidev.20210203.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.scidev.20210203.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.scidev.20210203.14},
      abstract = {Migratory movements of Africans to the West in recent times have led to the evolvement of the new African diaspora, distinct from the old that emerged in the immediate post-transatlantic slavery era, but with both comparable in number of those involved and scope. Lived experience’s implication in new identity construct of migrants leads to this text-based exploration of how first generation male and female African migrants in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers reflect Africanity. The selected texts, which are depictions of recent African diaspora experience, are analyzed using postcolonial concepts of ‘otherness’, ‘subalternity’ and Stuart Hall’s notion of ‘cultural identity’. The outcome of the relocation of many African migrants to the West is the expression of their Africanity in distinct ways. As postcolonial subjects, contemporary African migrants have found themselves at the ‘Centre’ where the reality of their racialization and essentialization have grave consequences on their identities thereby rendering them ‘unwhole’ Africans.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AB  - Migratory movements of Africans to the West in recent times have led to the evolvement of the new African diaspora, distinct from the old that emerged in the immediate post-transatlantic slavery era, but with both comparable in number of those involved and scope. Lived experience’s implication in new identity construct of migrants leads to this text-based exploration of how first generation male and female African migrants in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers reflect Africanity. The selected texts, which are depictions of recent African diaspora experience, are analyzed using postcolonial concepts of ‘otherness’, ‘subalternity’ and Stuart Hall’s notion of ‘cultural identity’. The outcome of the relocation of many African migrants to the West is the expression of their Africanity in distinct ways. As postcolonial subjects, contemporary African migrants have found themselves at the ‘Centre’ where the reality of their racialization and essentialization have grave consequences on their identities thereby rendering them ‘unwhole’ Africans.
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Author Information
  • Department of General Studies, Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, Ilaro, Nigeria

  • Department of General Studies, Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, Ilaro, Nigeria

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