“Nigrescence” in Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah: A Psychoanalytic Approach

Abstract

“Nigrescence” is a French word that means the process of becoming black in a cultural-psychological sense. William Cross’s theory of psychological Nigrescence is the best known theory of Black identity development. Psychologically, being black makes the individual suffer the physical, psychological, emotional, and social injuries of racial discriminations. The beginning of the twenty-first century marked the emergence of the ‘third generation’ of Nigerian writers, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chris Abani and Chika Unigwe, who explore the cultural and social complexities of their country of origin, as well as other themes such as, immigration to Europe and America, the problems of race and racism and the quest for identity. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to examine Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Americanah (2013), based on the black identity development model of William E. Cross, focusing on selected racial experiences that help in the development of the protagonist’s, Ifemelu, self-image as a black person during her journey from Nigeria to the United States and how she succeeds in developing a positive racial identity while simultaneously adapting to American culture.