CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

A  Presentation  by  Cathy  Ybarra  

CHIMAMANDA  NGOZI  ADICHIE  

Life  and  Career  •  Born  in  Engu,  Nigeria  in  1977  

•  Came    to  the  United  States  at  19    

•  Drexel  University    

•  Eastern  Connecticut  State  University  

•  Purple  Hibiscus  

• Master’s  in  creative  writing  from  

John  Hopkins  University  

•  3  novels,  1  play,  1  collection  of  poems,  1  collection  of  short  stories    

On  Translingualism  

• Technically  translingual  

•  Igbo  (Engli-­‐Igbo)  

• Parents  only  spoke  Igbo  at  home  

• Educated  exclusively  in  English  

• “I  have  taken  ownership  of  English.”  

• Story  about  love,  identity,  and  immigration  

•  Ifumela’s  years  in  the  US  and  

her  move  back  to  Nigeria  

• Title  is  significant  

Language  and  Identity  • Focus  on  identity  in  her  life  and  her  writing  

•  Identified  only  as  Igbo  (ethnic  group)  and  Christian  (religion)  before  she  moved  to  the  United  States  

• Language  preservation  in  a  globalized  world  

• English  is  her  medium  of  expression,  but  it  is  a  reclaimed  form  

of  English  

• A  different  kind  of  translingual  

Quotes  • “I  recently  spoke  at  a  university  where  a  student  told  me  it  was  

such  a  shame  that  Nigerian  men  were  physical  abusers  like  the  

father  character  in  my  novel.  I  told  him  that  I  had  recently  read  a  

novel  called  American  Psycho,  and  that  it  was  a  shame  that  young  

Americans  were  serial  murderers.”  

• “I  think  you  travel  to  search  and  you  come  back  home  to  find  

yourself  there.”  

• “I  don’t  think  of  myself  as  anything  like  a  ‘global  citizen’  or  anything  

of  the  sort.  I  am  just  a  Nigerian  who’s  comfortable  in  other  places.”  

• “Literature  is  not  just  words.  Literature  is  never  just  words.”