November 16, 2016 - 04:52
My fourth class this semester is a French class on francophone literature. Americanah in some ways reminds me of the books I have read for that class, in particular Le Ventre de l'Atlantique by Fatou Diome, which is narrated by a Senegalese woman living in France but focuses largely on her childhood and on the people she grew up with. An important theme of that book is "la colonisation mentale," the preoccupation with French culture that remained after the French government relinquished control. The inhabitants of the main character's hometown associate going to France with financial success, and her brother dreams of playing soccer for a French team. This "mental colonization" is present in Americanah as well. I was particularly struck by it on page 35, when Obinze and his wife are advised to send their daughter either to a French school or to a school that teaches the British curriculum. Having also read stories about the French education system being imposed on colonized peoples, I was surprised that Nigerian parents would choose such an education for their children, and I wondered how relevant it would be, or if the French school, like the colonial French schools, would teach history by having students repeat, "Nos ancetres, les Gaulois..." ("Our ancestors, the Gauls...") How much of Western culture they should adopt seems to be a source of disagreement among many of the characters, and among the wealthy elite, it appears that western influence is winning. Interestingly, Ifemelu and Obinze seem to have reversed their positions on this: Obinze was once obsessed with America, but is now pushing back on that culture, whereas Ifemelu, who was more resistant to American culture, has absorbed a good deal of it after living in the U.S. for thirteen years.