DIASPORA AND TRANSNATIONAL IMAGINARIES IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK

Abstract

This paper explores Adichie’s conception of émigré Nigerians within the diasporic paradigm and particularly in love relationships while living in the United States of America. Adichie deploys her stories to examine the complexities that characterize immigrant life in America and the many shenanigans that are adopted by immigrants as a strategy of survival including sham marriages so as to get the green card and to evade the wrath of the American immigration authorities. Adichie explodes the myth of America as the promised land of the earth that flows with milk and honey and holds the prospect of solving the problems of emigrants as soon as the set foot on its soil. This is because the realities that immigrants face in America sharply contrasts with the images that are painted of it. Nigerian immigrants in Adichie’s stories face all kinds of harrowing experiences such as racial discrimination, joblessness, immigration problems, alienation as well as getting lost in the vast American labyrinth. The paper concludes that contrary to the widely touted perceptions of America as the land of limitless opportunity, immigrants still struggle to eke out a meaningful existence and are confined to the fringes of American life.