Producing Exile: Diasporic Vision in Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun

Abstract

Set in postcolonial Nigeria during the Biafra War, Adichie's second novel represents the fracturing of national unity and the suffering of the Igbo people as the doomed war propels them into diaspora. The essay explores the novel's diasporic vision, tracing Adichie's representation of the colonial legacies that shape public history and undermine personal communities. Rejecting historical omniscience and narrating instead through three uncertain characters, Adichie demonstrates the diasporic vision produced by events in the novel. The estranged observers demonstrate anticolonial modes of perception and the potential for a diasporic consciousness attuned to the innate failures of nationalism.

War and the Question of Identity: A Study of the Novel Half of a Yellow Sun and the Movie The Wall

“…In this particular setting, the Hausa tribe perceives itself as possessing a higher social status in comparison to other tribes, particularly the Igbo people who exhibited relative vulnerability during the war due to their limited population size. The individuals in question possessed a high level of education and were renowned for their affluence, which was mostly attributed to the presence of oil resources in their property (Strehle, 2011). In this respect, the role of the colonizer in supporting one group to be superior and elite in the community is quite evident.…”

“…Thahiya Afzal in his appreciation of the character of Olanna, described her as "the professor's beautiful young mistress who has abandoned her life in Lagos for a dusty town and her lover's charm". Strehle (2011) claimed that the concept of diaspora encompasses both challenges and advantages. Individuals who endure exile have undergone the profound deprivation of their own territory, forcibly uprooted from residences that they are unlikely to regain.…”