ABSTRACT

Displacement came to stay in the African imaginary from the moment the continent had its encounter with Europe, producing as it were a flurry of displacement narrative from different perspectives. European colonization in Africa was characterized by both geographical and cultural displacements and post-independence African has not exactly freed itself from the whole idea of displacement seen in the refugee crisis that continue to rock many Africa nations as a result of different forms of violence. But contemporary displacement in Africa goes well beyond involuntary movements of people. The exportation of the American dream through various media has served as a catalyst for displacement in today’s Africa. This chapter sets to consider America as an idea in selected stories from Adichie’s short story collection The Thing around your Neck which propels the characters to migrate. The chapter develops the argument that irrespective of the reason for migration, the choice of America as destination is guided by a collective obsession with a paradise imagined. As a catalyst for displacement, this initial movement engenders further displacement once in America as the migrants come to the full realization that the received and perceived images of the American dream is not accessible to all and that physical movement is usually accompanied by certain expectations and imperatives for change which because they are ignorant of find themselves ill-prepared for. The chapter develops a genealogy of this obsession and indicates how for the contemporary African, America is not only a geographical location but an idea to be explored and embraced and thus spurs border-crossings. Considered from a postcolonial perspective and migration theory, the chapter arrives at the conclusion that the experiences of the migrant Africans in America are a continuation of colonial domination characterized by loss, cultural displacement and the outsider status. By seeking to be part of the idea that is America, they engage in the process of assimilation, not realizing that this comes at a great price.