Reluctant Igbo: The matter of cultural identity in Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde

Abstract

Culture and identity issues occupy a great deal of place in postcolonial studies. Contemporary scholars have been highly debating the intersection of cultures belonging to divergent groups and the identity crises of individuals within those groups. Accordingly, new insights based on understanding the invisible aspects of these relations are gained to literature. In this study, Nigerian feminist writer Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde (1994) is analysed through the lenses of culture and identity since the protagonist Kehinde is forced to prefer either her native African culture, called Igbo or her acquired European culture. Such pressure causes Kehinde to strive for two different identities: a Nigerian woman adhering to local traditions and a European woman favouring freedom, though she is inclined to the latter. The paper has been approached by theorist Homi K. Bhabha’s postcolonial notions since he holds culture and identity issues complementarily with particular terms which are hybridity and third space.