Coloniality and Migrancy in African Diasporic Literatures

This book explores literary representations of African immigrant experiences in Western countries, against the backdrop of colonial stereotypes and recent expressions of anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe and America.

The book deploys the concept of coloniality of migrancy to explore how global coloniality continues to shape the identities and lived experiences of African immigrants as represented in African diasporic literatures. It considers the persistence of racist and discriminatory attitudes and patterns of thought that developed during slavery and colonialism, and asks to what extent it is possible for African immigrants to transcend race in their configuration of their identity. Five key twenty-first century African diasporic novels are considered in the analysis: Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers, Dave Eggers’ What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Helon Habila’s Travellers. Overall, the book demonstrates that despite the hostility migrants of colour encounter, Africans are shunning the victimhood of colonialism and slavery and finding alternative ways of navigating and inhabiting the modern world.

Foregrounding the usefulness of decoloniality and postcolonial theory as theoretical tools, this book will be an invaluable resource to researchers across the fields of African literature, migration, sociology, politics, and decolonial studies.