Situationist Decoloniality: A Psychogeographical Analysis of Rootedness in Americanah

Abstract

This paper intends to examine postmodern policing of localization and the discourse of capitalism and western discursive imperialism through the larger conception of rootedness and decoloniality by theoretically interpreting the quintessence of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah (2013). Through the journey of Ifemelu’s quest for self-location within her indigenous land and hence predicting the relevance of psycho-geographically locating oneself within the indigenous land without falling into the discourse of pan-nationalism and repelling modernity.  This research uses the lens of psychogeography and situationist decolonial theory on the pursuit of rootedness within the novel Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The paper investigates the psycho-emotive effects of geographic displacement and the pursuit of rootedness through the protagonist Ifemelu’s journey from Nigeria and the United States, focusing on the psychogeographical effects of global capitalism, Western discursive imperialism on the character’s psychic geography and emotional constitution. Through the synthesis of the theories of psychogeography and situationist critique and the application of these lenses on the novel Americanah, this research will contribute towards the scholarship on localization and globalization and the construction of subaltern identity and the politics of the decolonial within the context of the globalized world.

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