Diasporic Consciousness and Narrative Craft: Identity, Language, and Resistance in the Select Works of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Abstract

This article critically examines the themes of identity, diaspora, and racial politics in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and Americanah (2013). Using Stuart Hall’s theory of Cultural Identity and Diaspora alongside Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, the study explores how Adichie’s protagonists navigate cultural dislocation, hybrid identity, and postcolonial trauma across Nigerian and Western contexts. The paper highlights Adichie’s use of narrative techniques—such as symbolism, scenic narration, retrospective structure, pathetic fallacy, epistolary form, and code-mixing—as strategies of cultural resistance. These aesthetic devices allow Adichie to reclaim African subjectivity and challenge dominant Western narratives. Particular focus is given to Americanah, where the character Ifemelu confronts systemic racism, internalised inferiority, and diasporic dissonance, revealing the complexities of African identity in the U.S. context. In contrast, Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun engage with internal diasporas within Nigeria, illustrating the impact of patriarchal violence, civil conflict, and colonial legacies on selfhood. The study argues that Adichie’s fiction reframes postcolonial identity as a fluid and evolving process. Her work not only critiques systems of oppression but also asserts the power of storytelling as a means of resistance and reclamation, making significant contributions to contemporary Black feminist and diasporic literature.