Different economic, political and historical events have participated to the mass

migration of young African people forward American and European countries. However,
they face some difficulties of many levels in their host countries. It is in this perspective that
some writers particularly from diaspora engage themselves in describing the diasporic
experiences of these Africans people abroad, thus the Nigerian female writer Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda, described as one of the leading voices of her generation in her book entitled
Americanah depicts the living condition and dilemma of young African migrants in America
and Britain throughout the love story of Ifemelu and Obinze, published in 2013. To better
seize that novel we will examine some points like racism, linguistic hybridity, disillusion and
cultural clash to understand what writing from the diaspora in African literature could imply.

The collapse of economies of most African countries have after independence have
caused the departure of young African forward America. They go there to access well paid
job and better education, unfortunately they are confronted to racism. In fact, Chimamanda
in this literary production examines blackness in America and Nigeria, she exposes the
meaning of being a non-African American African abroad. She shows that foreigners must
control themselves and pay attention to their behavior and even to their thinking. This
means that Chimamanda throughout this novel makes a real portray of the difficulties that
must face black migrants to survive in America. In so doing, racism is well portrayed in
Ifemelu’s blog entitled “Raceteenth or Various Observations about American Blacks
(negroes). This blog observes and analyses the wrong of the black situation around her so in
the post titled “To My Fellow Non American Black: In America You are Black Baby” the main
protagonist Ifemelu say about race:
Dear Non-American Blacks, when you make the choice to come to America,
you become black, stop arguing. Stop saying I’m Jamaica or I’m Ghanian.
America doesn’t care… in describing black women you admire, always use
the word “STRONG” because that is what black women are supposed to be in
America. If you are a woman, please do not speak your mind as you are used
to doing in your country. Because in America, strong-minded black women
are SCARY. And if you are a man, be hyper-mellow, never get too excited or
somebody will worry that you’re about to pull a gun.
This statement show clearly the racial discrimination that remains there in America and how
foreigners are called to cope with, its shows also how they are perceived and disregarded by
black American. That statement reveals in which extend non-American ought to measure
their deeds in order to avoid troubles.

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 Chimamanda goes further by pointing out the implications of transatlantic journeys for
black people in America and this is manifest in the linguistic and cultural hybridity. Hybridity
is the blending of two or more different elements together, Ifemelu here tries to
Americanize her accent and adapts her Nigerian accent to the American one. This
combination of accent is very well noticed at Ifemelu level, when she arrives in America, she
is forced to abandon her Nigerian accent and speak with the American one in order to avoid
looking down and rejection. Thus it is the same case when she returns to Nigerian Ifemelu
must use her native country accent, and time for not being so Americanize. That is what is
translated at the end of the novel in this sentence when Ranyinudo speaks on page 475-476:
“Americanah!’ Ranyinudo teased her often ‘you are looking at
things with an American eye. But the problem is that you are
not even a real americanah. At least if you had an American
accent we would tolerate your complaining!’’’.
Ifemelu decides to speaks with the American accent by doing so she suppress a part of her
cultural identity in order to blend into the American culture, as consequence this
combination of culture and language is evident to everybody that meet her. This cultural and
linguistic hybridity is negatively presented here, because it destroy the true identity of the
foreigners.
In addition, we assist a portraying of cultural difference in this diasporic novel. Culture
clash is one of the issue that confront Ifemelu in America, there a difference between
American and Nigerian culture, so hence arrived abroad she is disoriented and loss. She
struggle to deals with these two cultures and still maintain their real identity, this is what
Ifemelu experienced when babysitting Morgan on page 165:
He put it his mouth. His face crumbled. “It’s bad!
It’s got stuff in it!” “Those are the seeds,” she said,
looking at what he had spat in his hand “ Orange
don’t have stuff in them”… “The orange is right one
for me, Morgan. I grew up eating oranges with seeds.
This conversation between Morgan and Ifemelu shows clearly how the difference of culture
is big between non-American and American people and the way it affect their daily life.
Americanah is a vivid testimony of the representation of immigrants disillusion. The
majority of African immigrants are disappointed by what they discover in their host
countries. Because things are not easy at all there and there are forced to humiliated job in
order to survive, in this novel, Ifemelu the main character who is a young lady is obliged to
have sexual intercourse with a strangers she doesn’t know to have just one hundred dollars.

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 At the end of this analysis, it has been established from Chimamanda’s novel
Americanah as an African diasporic text, the experiences and dilemma that face non-
American in America. She makes a representation of diasporic life throughout major themes
that concerned the diaspora writing like racism, linguistic and cultural hybridity, disillusion or
cultural clash. Throughout this diaspora writing readers have the opportunity to get
informed about what they do not on transatlantic journeys and its implications in post-
colonial time.