Americanah (excerpt)

This study guide will help you analyze an excerpt from the novel Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The excerpt is from "Black Voices", Gyldendal, 2022. You can also find a summary of the text, as well as inspiration for interpreting it and putting it into perspective.

Excerpt from the study guide:

Ifemelu paints the picture of a deeply prejudiced and racist America: “racism is about the power of a group and in America it’s white folks who have that power”. Ifemelu carefully differentiates between being prejudiced – which she says all people are – and being racist. She describes America as a country where black people are repeatedly denied experiences and rights because of their skin color:

Well, white folks don’t get treated like shit in upper-class African American communities and white folks don’t get denied bank loans or mortgages precisely because they are white and black juries don’t give white criminals worse sentences for the same crime and black police officers don’t stop white folk for driving while white and black companies don’t choose not to hire somebody because their name sounds white and black teachers don’t tell white kids that they’re not smart enough to be doctors…

According to Ifemelu, America sees being black as being undesirable. The white majority tends to ignore racism, claiming that racism and slavery belong to the past. Furthermore, the issue of racism tends to be suppressed, while other issues like class and gender tend to take the spotlight: “Don’t be quick to find alternative explanations for what happened. Don’t say ‘Oh, it’s not really race, it’s class. Oh, it’s not race, it’s gender. Oh, it’s not race, it’s the cookie monster’”.

Ifemelu also ...