Adichie reveals she is an ambassador of herself
Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie said there are many things she detest about Nigeria and for that she doesnt represent Nigeria.
A modern post-colonial writer and an international icon of feminism, she has been translated into 30 languages, had two of her novels adapted for the screen, and is in constant demand for lectures, interviews, panel debates, even sharing the stage with her African-American counterpart in fame, Michelle Obama.
Adiche raveles this while speaking, when she was asked if her global brand stands in as an ambassador or representative of Nigeria.
“No. I am an ambassador for myself. I don’t represent Nigeria; there are things about Nigeria I don’t like. But, at the same time, I am very very proud of my Nigerian identity,” She said.
Living between the affluent neighborhoods of Lagos and those of Washington DC, Adichie slips effortlessly between the two cultures.
She may have had a privileged upbringing, but she doesn’t lack humility and intimates that she will be travelling on to her village: “I am going to be a very happy village girl.
It’s home, it has many problems but it’s home. There is a saying I like: your mother is your mother even if one of her legs is broken.”
“I was born and raised in Nigeria, which I didn’t leave until I was 19. I’m proud to be Nigerian, I’m proud to be African, I’m proud to be Igbo.
I won’t be who I am today if I wasn’t all of those things.”
The novelist, who divides her time between Nigeria and the United States, while traveling the globe, also opened up on why she initially refused an American passport.
Quote“For a long time, I didn’t want to become a US citizen because I believed that part of the experience of being Nigerian is experiencing the humiliations of traveling on a Nigerian passport,” she added.
“But I changed my mind about US citizenship after my father was kidnapped in 2015 and it was the American embassy in Lagos and not the Nigerian government who helped my family.
“They even sent a therapist to my father after he was released.
I now plan to become an American citizen at some point, but I guess I’m still delaying it.”
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KanyiDaily recalls that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie had faulted the structural arrangement of the country, saying that other sections of the country have treated the Igbo race irrationally 50 years after the civil war ended.
