Hair and race relations in the construction of a Black female character in Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26512/cerrados.v32i61.45849Keywords:
hair, identity, Female African literature, Chimamanda Adichie.Abstract
The aim of this paper is to investigate how hair in Chimamanda Adichie’s construction of Ifemelu, the main character of the novel Americanah, might be faced as a strategy to question and escape the White norm that has been imposed on Black people as both a beauty standard and a way of living. It demonstrates the complicated racial relations in the novel and establishes the meaning of Ifemelu’s discovery of race and its consequences in her practical life, in her experiences, and her relationship with her body – especially her hair – and herself.
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