The experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah": expanding the category of the "Cosmopolitan stranger"

This article examines Ifemelu's experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah" in order to expand upon Esperança Bielsa's contention that the "cosmopolitan stranger" is also embodied by certain postcolonial diasporic subjects. Bielsa refers specifi...

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Autor: Suárez-Rodríguez, Ángela|||0000-0002-5705-8049
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
Repositorio:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/38258
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10902/38258
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Experience of return
Nostalgia
Cosmopolitan stranger
Contemporary Afrodiasporic novel
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah
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spelling The experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah": expanding the category of the "Cosmopolitan stranger"Suárez-Rodríguez, Ángela|||0000-0002-5705-8049Experience of returnNostalgiaCosmopolitan strangerContemporary Afrodiasporic novelChimamanda Ngozi AdichieAmericanahThis article examines Ifemelu's experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah" in order to expand upon Esperança Bielsa's contention that the "cosmopolitan stranger" is also embodied by certain postcolonial diasporic subjects. Bielsa refers specifically to those returnees who become agents in the transformation of their societies of origin. Under this premise, the literary analysis focuses first on Ifemelu's emotional attitude toward a homecoming while she is in diaspora, in the US, and then moves on to explore her experience of dislocation upon return in Lagos. This leads to the identification of the figure of the stranger as returnee. The final part of the analysis examines Ifemelu's process of readjustment in the place of origin, paying attention to her critical ways of thinking and acting as, more accurately, a cosmopolitan stranger. This article underlines, however, a major shortcoming of Bielsa's discussion in light of studies of nostalgia -the lack of consideration of the future-oriented dimension of this emotion. Ifemelu's homecoming shows that a feeling of nostalgia in the context of migration may result in a decision to return home as a defensive reaction to the experience of racialization, which in turn may be put to work toward cosmopolitan social change in the homeland.This research was supported by the project “Strangers” (RTI2018-097186-B-I00) financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Spanish Research Agency, and the European Regional Development Fund. Further support was provided by the R&D Programme of the Principality of Asturias, through the Intersections Research Group (GRUPIN IDI/2018/000167), and by a “Severo Ochoa” fellowship from the Principality of Asturias.Taylor & FrancisUniversidad de Cantabria20242024-01-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501NAhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttps://hdl.handle.net/10902/38258Critique, 2024, 65(1), 142-155reponame:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabriainstname:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/382582026-06-02T12:39:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah": expanding the category of the "Cosmopolitan stranger"
title The experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah": expanding the category of the "Cosmopolitan stranger"
spellingShingle The experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah": expanding the category of the "Cosmopolitan stranger"
Suárez-Rodríguez, Ángela|||0000-0002-5705-8049
Experience of return
Nostalgia
Cosmopolitan stranger
Contemporary Afrodiasporic novel
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah
title_short The experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah": expanding the category of the "Cosmopolitan stranger"
title_full The experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah": expanding the category of the "Cosmopolitan stranger"
title_fullStr The experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah": expanding the category of the "Cosmopolitan stranger"
title_full_unstemmed The experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah": expanding the category of the "Cosmopolitan stranger"
title_sort The experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah": expanding the category of the "Cosmopolitan stranger"
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Suárez-Rodríguez, Ángela|||0000-0002-5705-8049
author Suárez-Rodríguez, Ángela|||0000-0002-5705-8049
author_facet Suárez-Rodríguez, Ángela|||0000-0002-5705-8049
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidad de Cantabria
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Experience of return
Nostalgia
Cosmopolitan stranger
Contemporary Afrodiasporic novel
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah
topic Experience of return
Nostalgia
Cosmopolitan stranger
Contemporary Afrodiasporic novel
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah
description This article examines Ifemelu's experience of return in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah" in order to expand upon Esperança Bielsa's contention that the "cosmopolitan stranger" is also embodied by certain postcolonial diasporic subjects. Bielsa refers specifically to those returnees who become agents in the transformation of their societies of origin. Under this premise, the literary analysis focuses first on Ifemelu's emotional attitude toward a homecoming while she is in diaspora, in the US, and then moves on to explore her experience of dislocation upon return in Lagos. This leads to the identification of the figure of the stranger as returnee. The final part of the analysis examines Ifemelu's process of readjustment in the place of origin, paying attention to her critical ways of thinking and acting as, more accurately, a cosmopolitan stranger. This article underlines, however, a major shortcoming of Bielsa's discussion in light of studies of nostalgia -the lack of consideration of the future-oriented dimension of this emotion. Ifemelu's homecoming shows that a feeling of nostalgia in the context of migration may result in a decision to return home as a defensive reaction to the experience of racialization, which in turn may be put to work toward cosmopolitan social change in the homeland.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024
2024-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
NA
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10902/38258
url https://hdl.handle.net/10902/38258
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Taylor & Francis
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Taylor & Francis
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Critique, 2024, 65(1), 142-155
reponame:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
instname:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
instname_str Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
reponame_str UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
collection UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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