Ifemelu In America

In Americanah, Chimamanda Adichie’s protagonist, Ifemelu, migrates to America from Nigeria. In Nigeria, Ifemelu thought of herself as a normal human being. She was educated, knew English, and had a successful career. Yet, when she enters America, the identity she had given before is quickly shoved up against American norms, clichés, and expectations of the “black woman.” Ifemelu is immediately pitied by her lighter skinned and white friends, and thus alienated from a people who are much more fitting for her-- she is grouped into a category the minute she stepped foot in America. In addition to being alienated from the white, lighter skinned communities, Ifemelu is also isolated within the group she is automatically assigned to be a part of:
She doesn't know the racial prejudices or misconceptions America has pertaining to the people of color, and she is thrown into a world where her braids are not seen as professional and where the “black person,” no matter where he or she is from, must be pitied. Yet, although American culture isolates Ifemelu for her skin color, she is also isolated within the African American community. Because Ifemelu has black skin, the African American community expects her to get mad when someone uses the “n” word or when someone asks to touch her hair. The black people who grew up in America have a special set of cultural offenses that Ifemelu just doesn’t understand. She doesn’t grasp why she isn’t allowed to like watermelon or tell someone she does because it’s “racist.” This cultural unawareness alienates her from the African American community because she doesn’t always relate to the topics of conversations and debates her fellow people of color discuss. Because Ifemelu can’t relate to the group of people she is supposed to be with, she is even more isolated than most black people in America. She is judged by both white and black social groups, and thus feels like she fits in
Because she feels the Africans, not African Americans, have no place to learn these American cultural expectations, she creates a blog. Each blog post questions some of the American norms about people of color and the treatment of black communities. In one of her posts, she tries to come to terms with the cultural differences between Africans and African Americans, and she tries to explain that there really is no such thing as an “African,” but instead individual Nigerians, Kenyans, etc. She realizes that these different African ethnicities get grouped into one bland category, causing their originality to be viewed as a bad thing or as nothing at all. Thus, in her blog, Ifemelu invites the African American and white communities to try and get away from the singular story of blacks: the one story about the poor African dying of aids, not the successful Nigerian author or the talented Ghanaian singer. Ifemelu asks white people and African Americans to not see the black community as one item, but instead as a bunch of individual, unique cultures. African Americans should not expect a Nigerian to have the same views about racism just because he or she has black skin. White skinned people should not pity a Kenyan just because his or her skin color fits the racial profile of many impoverished people in America-- that is not necessarily his or her