White people cannot relate to the racial hardships immigrants face. Ifemelu and Obinze must adjust to new and unfamiliar concepts of race. Throughout Americanah, both Ifemelu and Obinze encounter white people who struggle and often fail to understand the struggles that face African immigrants in primarily white countries.
When Ifemelu moves to the United States, she is forced to learn America’s concept of race. While living in Nigeria, Ifemelu does not experience race as a social construct in the same manner as she does while leaving in the United States. In a blog post, Ifemelu explains that race is one of America’s “tribalisms.” Ifemelu writes of a racial hierarchy, with black Americans at the very bottom of the race ladder. However, Ifemelu struggles to understand the racial hierarchy in the United States because race in Nigeria is not as engrained in the hierarchy of classes as it is in the United States. Discussing race, Ifemelu writes in her blog, “Americans assume that everyone will get their tribalism. But it takes a while to figure it out.” As someone who has grown up in the United States, I had never considered the idea that immigrants have to adjust to new concepts of race as well as struggling to adjust to life in a foreign country. Ifemelu explains, “When I came to America, I became black.” While first living in the United States, Ifemelu struggles to find a job, a suitable place to live. Ifemelu is forced to adjust to unfamiliar racial constructs while also struggling to establish a sustainable life for herself.
Obinze experiences ignorance about the prevalence of racism in England. While at a dinner party at Emenike’s home, one of the guests says, “But you haven’t really had to deal with any racism here, have you Emenike?” Emenike responds by telling the story of when a taxi driver did not accept his fare but instead picked up two white women farther down the street. While telling the story to his white guests, Emenike describes the story as if it was an amusing incident. He fails to mention the rage he experienced as the cab picked up two white customers instead. Emenike understands that he must act amused by the blatant racism he experiences, as to not make his white guests uncomfortable. His white guests are largely unaware of the racism present in England and Emenike understands that commenting on the prevalence of racism would make his guests uncomfortable. Instead, he makes the choice to portray his cab driver story as an amusing incident in his life rather than an aggravating event. His white guests are content to remain ignorant to the racial issues in England.
I want to extend the analysis of Ifemelu presented in this post. When Ifemelu comes to America, she enters a culture she does not understand. She is black without the context of American blackness. Despite the massive cultural differences between Africans and African-Americans, American society still projects their deep-seated antiblackness onto Ifemelu. She has to learn quickly to survive in American culture.
ReplyDeleteShe explains her story of when she realized she needed to learn to be black in America, when she says, “M[y first experience] was in a class in undergrad when I was asked to give the black perspective, only I had no idea what that was” (273). Ifemelu wishes people could stop talking about race, but she knows it's an important issue. Even if she never thought about race before, she is now in a society that is obsessed with it. She acknowledges that "American Blacks, too, are tired of talking about race. They wish they didn’t have to. But shit keeps happening” (404). Similarly, Ifemelu doesn't want to be constantly aware of her differences, but it's impossible to ignore. This difference is illustrated the most when she shows Kurt women’s magazines and says, "There are seven different shades for white skin and one generic chocolate shade, but that is progress”(365-366).
Ifemelu tells Obinze, "My ex-boyfriends and I spent a lot of time explaining. I sometimes wondered whether we would even have anything at all to say to each other if we were from the same place” (563). As much as Ifemelu wishes she didn't have to talk about race and difference, she also knows she has to. She tries to find someone who can understand her in Blaine, but, even though they share in their blackness, they are still from very different cultures. She continuously searches for understanding and acceptance in America, but society rebuffs her at every turn. Racial and cultural issues stand between her and mutual understanding.
It is also interesting to note that while Ifemelu is new to the idea of belonging to a race and the racism that may follow, she is not new to the idea of prejudice based on skin color. Throughout the novel we are shown instances of colorism in Nigeria. For example, Ginika claims that “she was voted Prettiest Girl in their form” because she is “a half-caste” (Adichie 67). Ifemelu also notices that Aunty Onenu had “not been born with her light complexion” and had used “bleaching cream” (Adichie 483). Beauty ideals were still linked to lightness of skin in Nigeria, a phenomenon that was mirrored elsewhere in the world, like with the incident with Curt and the magazines. Out of all of the magazines there were three black women, and “not one of them is dark” (Adichie 365). This illustrates just how pervasive prejudice about skin color is—it has international implications. Prejudice is also seen at the end of the novel from the Nigerian landlord who “preferred expatriate renters” and stated that he does “not rent to Igbo people” (Adichie 485). Ifemelu was only able to get the flat because she had come from America, which relaxed the landlord. Even when she returned home, she was not entirely free from the concept of race.
ReplyDeleteComing from a black immigrant family myself, I can relate to this argument. My dad was actually in a similar situation to Obinze, working illegally in European countries and performing odd jobs such as cleaning toilets and washing dishes to make some money for those back home in Tanzania. I'm sure he had to deal with struggles similar to Ifemelu’s when he moved to the U.S. as well. We moved to Bloomington just before I had turned two years old and growing up in a traditionally Tanzanian household in America, I found myself in a situation similar to Dike's, experiencing a sort of identity crisis that wasn't helped by the fact that I went to primarily white schools and didn't have many black friends. It is sometimes hard to explain to white peers how life in America is as a black person, especially as a Non-American Black. I found that I really related to some of Ifemelu's blog posts. I thought the post "Friendly Tips for the American Non-Black: How to React to an American Black Talking About Blackness" (pgs 403-406) did a really good job of addressing the problematic tendencies of white Americans. I think that the recommendation to just listen should have been directed to Emenike’s friends during his dinner party, because in his telling of the cab driver story, he was forced to make his experience more palatable to the white audience, a stark contrast to how he told his story to Obinze when they were alone.
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