『아메리카나』에 나타난 아프리카 세계시민주의의 정치적 가능성과 한계
The (A)politics of Afropolitanism in Americanah
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This paper aims to explore how the notion of Afropolitanism is manifested in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s widely recognized novel, Americanah. While the critique of Afropolitanism has been the center of many other Afropolitan novels, notably Cole’s Open City, Americanah has not been closely examined in association with the theory. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to set the novel in the context of Afropolitanism, and by doing so, to investigate its political significances. The main idea of this paper lies on the assertion that Americanah is both deeply political and apolitical at the same time: It is political in terms of criticizing Afropessimism and its entailing negative images of the continent as an ahistorical place, but in doing so, the novel posits a highly apolitical kind of subjectivity based upon the negative liberty of liberal individualism. By presenting the main character as the one who can freely negotiate among different identities and can choose her own hybridity at her own will, the novel not only offers free agency as an imaginary solution to the political problems it raises but also erases the existence of other ‘less fortunate’ traditional diaspora subjects from the narrative.
Abstract
This paper aims to explore how the notion of Afropolitanism is manifested in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s widely recognized novel, Americanah. While the critique of Afropolitanism has been the center of many other Afropolitan novels, notably Cole’s Open City, Americanah has not been closely examined in association with the theory. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to set the novel in the context of Afropolitanism, and by doing so, to investigate its political significances. The main idea of this paper lies on the assertion that Americanah is both deeply political and apolitical at the same time: It is political in terms of criticizing Afropessimism and its entailing negative images of the continent as an ahistorical place, but in doing so, the novel posits a highly apolitical kind of subjectivity based upon the negative liberty of liberal individualism. By presenting the main character as the one who can freely negotiate among different identities and can choose her own hybridity at her own will, the novel not only offers free agency as an imaginary solution to the political problems it raises but also erases the existence of other ‘less fortunate’ traditional diaspora subjects from the narrative.
참고문헌 (18)
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