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Afropolitan Feminism in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah Bridget Tetteh-Batsa

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Afropolitan Feminism in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah Bridget Tetteh-Batsa University of North Dakota UND Scholarly Commons Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects 1-1-2018 To “Own Yourself a Little orM e”: Afropolitan Feminism in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah Bridget Tetteh-Batsa Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/theses Recommended Citation Tetteh-Batsa, Bridget, "To “Own Yourself a Little orM e”: Afropolitan Feminism in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah" (2018). Theses and Dissertations. 2363. https://commons.und.edu/theses/2363 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TO “OWN YOURSELF A LITTLE MORE”: AFROPOLITAN FEMINISM IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S AMERICANAH by Bridget Tetteh-Batsa Bachelor of Arts, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, 2006 Master of Arts, Ohio University, 2009 Master of Arts, Ohio University, 2011 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of North Dakota In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Grand Forks, North Dakota August 2018 PERMISSION Title TO “OWN YOURSELF A LITTLE MORE”: AFROPOLITAN FEMINISM IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S AMERICANAH Department English Degree Doctor of Philosophy In presenting this dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate degree from the University of North Dakota, I agree that the library of this University shall make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for extensive copying for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor who supervised my dissertation work or, in her/his absence, by the Chairperson of the department or the Dean of the Graduate School. It is understood that any copying or publication or other use of this dissertation or part thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of North Dakota in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my dissertation. Bridget Tetteh-Batsa 31 May 2018 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A heartfelt and sincere thank you to Dr. Christopher Nelson, my PhD adviser and chair, for believing in me and encouraging me as I navigated uncertainties. Dr. Nelson’s invaluable guidance and mentorship as graduate chair and adviser mattered, and continues to matter for my voice and emerging scholarship: for this, I say, Medaase paa, Opanin! I also want to say thank you to my dissertation committee, Professor Sharon Carson, Dr. Lori Robison, Dr. Eric Wolfe, and Dr. Ty Reese for their invaluable feedback, patience, and commitment: I am eternally grateful. A special thank you to Dr. Crystal Alberts, Dr. Rebecca Weaver Hightower, Kristin Ellwanger, and Connie Marshall in the distinct and important ways they contributed to my PhD career, and work. iv For my mom, Vivien Letitia Dede Tetteh, indubitable feminist, my role model. I love you. You made this possible with prayer support, love, and guidance. For my siblings, Michael, Eunice, Naomi, and for my father, Jonathan: thank you for the support. I love u For my family, Jon, Wil, and Lauryn; You gave me the family I needed here in the USA, and I love you all. ABSTRACT Afropolitanism, in part, accounts for itinerant and so autonomous Africans who shape the contours of a late-modern global history. If Afropolitanism describes the work and activism of 21st century Africans in Euro-America determined to challenge western discourses that malign Africa, it is important to witness the distinctive character and voice Afropolitan women bring to that history defining exercise. Otherwise, as critics and scholars interested in what Afropolitanism brings to the work of reframing master narratives hitherto encircled for western primacy, we risk reinforcing the injustice we address. To fill this gap in the literature, I employ Selasi’s initial conception of the Afropolitan, what suffices for her consequent theory of an Afropolitan way of being in the world, to distinguish narrative moments and/or character portraits in Adichie’s Americanah (2013) that point to, curate, and witness an Afropolitan feminism tethered to the habits and politics of being American. More specifically, I examine ways Afropolitan feminism, as delineated in Adichie’s novel 1) promotes feminist advocacy for and in behalf of African female migrants, 2) mandates critical consciousness able to interrogate and counter America’s racialized topography, 3) encourages African sisterhood, transnational female kinships precipitated by mutual struggles and aspirations, 4) repudiates white/American paternalism, 5) sanctions transactional Pan- Africanism or Pan-African alliances that allow African-female autonomy, and 6) mandates Sankofa ideation or the émigrés’ return to an African home in the way it signifies an elevated Africa capable of housing the dreams of its wandering citizens. v In other words, I argue that Americanah submits an Afropolitan feminism that valuates voice, the act of speaking and speaking back, as critical counter-hegemonic agency for the African female migrant whose non-American identity supposes voicelessness and/or invisibility in discourses of national exclusion. I conclude that Afropolitan feminism, as delineated in this project, offers initial theoretical framework for distinguishing an Afropolitan feminist literature and narrative tradition undeniably crucial to an emergent discipline interested in accounting for, as other disciplines have, Black women who upstage systemic arrangements historically-tailored to exclude them. I further conclude that Afropolitan feminism provides opportunities for reframing intersectional feminism in the way the former accounts for African female standpoints and experiences otherwise subsumed under white and/or American mediated discussions of race, class, and gender. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................v PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................1 CHAPTERS I. INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................4 Prevailing Definitions of Afropolitanism .............................................................................4 Afropolitanism as a Contested Term or Field......................................................................7 Contribution to Scholarship ...............................................................................................10 Scope of Inquiry and Analysis............................................................................................12 Critical Lens or Approach .................................................................................................17 Chapter Overview ..............................................................................................................19 II. TOWARDS AN AFROPOLITAN FEMINISM ................................................................21 The Afropolitan Feminist Tenor of Adichie’s Transgender Comments .............................21 Americanah’s Afropolitan Story-World and Female Protagonist .....................................31 Americanah: Afropolitan Feminism as Advocacy for African Female Migrants ..............40 Postcolonial Feminist Precursors.............................................................................43 Distinguishing Afropolitan Feminism ........................................................................47 Americanah : Afropolitan Feminism as Critical Consciousness .......................................63 Americanah: Afropolitan Feminism as Transnational African Sisterhood .......................69 vii Americanah: Afropolitan Feminism as Resistance to White Female Paternalism ............78 Americanah: Afropolitan Feminism as Resistance to White/Male Paternalism ...............94 Americanah: Afropolitan Feminism as Pan-African Agency ..........................................101 Necessary Pan-Africanism in Teju Cole’s Open City ...............................................105 Negotiating Intraracial Repression through Transactional Pan-Africanism ...........109 Americanah: Afropolitan Feminism as Sankofa .............................................................112 Americanah, Or Adichie’s Public Activism/Feminism Come Full Circle .......................120 III. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................126 Afropolitanism: Renegotiating Intersectional Feminism ................................................126 Afropolitanism: A Class Issue and LGBTQ+ Mandate ...................................................127 AFTERWORD .............................................................................................................................137 WORKS CITED ..........................................................................................................................147 viii PREFACE “Telling Truth, Creating Spaces.” To hear
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