Americanah

"This one was really an inspiration as we were writing Mixed Up . The central character Ifemelu is a young Nigerian woman who moves to the USA to study. We read about her struggle to create a life in the US and we also read about her life in Lagos. The novel weaves between these locations as well as the UK, and sheds light on the difference between African identity and Black identity in the US and UK. This element made the book especially relevant for us because as a couple we not only confront interracial differences but also intercultural disconnects that impact our lives. We learn a lot about Ifemelu’s thoughts through her blog which is called Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black. During the novel, Ifemelu has a relationship with a White man called Curt. While he loves her deeply, the relationship ultimately breaks down because he is unable to really have in-depth discussions with her about race and the way society sees them differently. Years after that relationship has ended and Ifemelu is with her boyfriend Blaine, she pours her heart out at a dinner party: “We don’t even tell our white partners the small things that piss us off and the things we wish they understood better because we’re worried they will say we are overreacting, or we’re being too sensitive. And we don’t want them to say, Look how far we’ve come, just 40 years ago it would’ve been illegal for us to be a couple blah blah blah, because you know what we’re thinking when they say that? We are thinking why the fuck should it ever have been illegal anyway? But we don’t say any of this stuff. We let it pile up inside our heads and when we come to nice liberal dinners like this, we say that race doesn’t matter because that’s what we’re supposed to say, to keep our nice liberal friends comfortable. It’s true. I speak from experience.” As a couple, we were worried about exactly that: letting things pile up inside our heads and then spilling over. So we started to talk to one another about some of the biggest issues in our society: racism and white privilege. And the conversations we had initially were very frustrating and difficult. But over time it got a little easier and we started to learn from one another and appreciate how we have different perspectives on situations we were living through. And then we decided to write about that."