Asian Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies

Diaspora African Women Writers and Postcolonial Thought: A Structural Comparison of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits and Americanah

Alou Yacoubou *

Université André Salifou de Zinder, BP 656 Zinder, Niger.

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

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Abstract

Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (hereafter refers to as Hope) and Americanah display some striking similarities in terms of setting and characterization while they portray some provocative postcolonial preoccupations in terms of human displacement and the question of identity with the characters of both novels struggling to find their way out as they are caught in the complexities of immigration. Drawing upon the theories of postcolonialism and transnationalism, the paper examines the two novels to demonstrate the two writers' perspectives on African diasporic thought concerning postcolonial discourse. In a comparative maneuver and the light of structural and thematic approaches, the study stresses common narrative features and schemes in the two texts. The research reveals that palpable similarities between the two prose narratives appear when we consider how the novelists use specificity rather than generalization as far as setting and characterization are concerned to voice their trepidations concerning the host cultures. However, critical diverging points might be found between the two novels, but that is beyond the scope of the research.

Keywords: Diaspora African women writers, immigration, adichie, lalami, postcolonialism, transnationalism

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