FRACTURED SELF: THE BURDEN OF IDENTITY CRISIS IN TOPE FOLARIN’S A PARTICULAR KIND OF BLACKMAN

Abstract

The contemporary African diaspora has emerged as a significant area of study as African writers have increasingly turned their attention to the subject. Writers concerned with the formation of an African identity, shaped by a complex interplay of factors including cultural traditions and racial dynamics, have found the subject of diaspora worthy of literary representation. Such literary representations capture the experiences of Africans in the diaspora and their grappling with issues of identity, displacement, loss, hybridity, etc. This paper examines the burden of identity crises within the context of diaspora and the resulting fractured self in Tope Folarin’s A Particular Kind of Blackman as it deliberates on the concepts of home and identity. Using the postcolonial approach, the paper assesses Folarin’s handling of the diaspora experience with its attendant issues of identity and displacement. This paper also examines how individuals in the diaspora negotiate and construct their identity across racial lines in the context of a foreign society with its associated issues of racial discrimination. The study argues that, despite the challenges faced by the African diaspora, returning home and reconnecting with ancestral roots remain an even greater challenge, especially for second-generation immigrants born in the diaspora. Their complex hybrid status amplifies this difficulty. The paper concludes that diasporans experience social and psychological crises which facilitate the formation of new identities as they navigate existential realities in host lands. However, identifying and reconnecting with ancestral roots could proffer a solution to the psychological wandering and ambiguous views of home and identity that these individuals endure.