A TRANSNATIONALIST READING OF MIGRATION, IDENTITY AND BELONGING IN CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE'S ZIKORA AND DREAM COUNT

Abstract

African prose fiction has demonstrated significant awareness towards reconstruction of African identity in migrant literature. Chimamanda Adichie, one of the incumbent migrant writers, has produced works that capture transnationalist experiences. Existing studies on her works have focused on cultural integration and gender debates with little attention on comparative study of clashes between cultural injunction and Western ideology. Therefore, this study was designed to examine the conflict between cultural values and Western ideology in the integration process of Africans in diaspora in Zikora and Dream Count by examining identity negotiation and cultural hybridity in the texts. The study adopts Transnationalist theory by Nina Glick Schiller, Linda Basch and Gristina Szanton Blanc, and the concept of hybridity by Homi Bhabha to interrogate identity negotiation and cultural hybridity of the migrant characters. The theories are selected to engage the prism of transnationalist experiences ranging from globalisation, gender reconstruction, and migrant integration in the diaspora. Qualitative research method was used to select the two texts and they are subjected to literary analysis. Zikora and Dream Count examine the clash of cultural consciousness and globalization in the integration process of Africans in the West. It is evident in the novels that identity and cultural standpoints of migrants enter dilemma which often necessitates critical reflection to (re)find their stance. Migrants are instantly struck by their exposure to the other culture and identities in the diaspora which compels them to reassess their own identity. The experiences of Zikora, Nafissatou, Amina and Chiamaka highlight the struggle for autonomy, the redefinition of cultural expectations and the constant negotiation of self that characterise the transnational condition. Their journeys are not just personal but emblematic of the broader experiences of individuals living in a transnational world, where belonging is never fixed, identity is constantly fluid and women must continuously assert their agency and reshape their roles in the family and society. Globalisation continues to shape the experiences of migrants in diaspora and reconstruction of the ideation of home and national identity sets in. The study submits that African migrant fiction engages transnational experiences like globalisation, identity negotiation and cultural hybridity as factors that precondition migrants' existence in the West.