Alienation and the Search for Self-Identity: A Feminist Reading of Sefi Atta’s News From Home

P. Shunmuga Vadivoo¹, Dr. M. P. Anuja²

¹Research Scholar, Research Centre in English, Sri Parasakthi College for Women (Autonomous), Courtallam, Tenkasi – 627802. (Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli), Tamil Nadu, India. kavitha.dsv@gmail.com

² Associate Professor & Research Supervisor, Research Centre in English, Sri Parasakthi College for Women (Autonomous), Courtallam, Tenkasi – 627802. (Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli), Tamil Nadu, India. dranujamp@gmail.com

Abstract

Sefi Atta is a Nigerian–American novelist, short story writer, and screen-writer. News from Home is a short story collection published in 2010. It is a collection of eleven different short stories which deals with the themes of diaspora, identity, alienation, and grief. The protagonist of the short story “News from Home” is an African nurse who migrates to America for better life. Though she is a trained nurse, she is unable to practice her profession as an immigrant, and is forced to work as a nanny to an American family. Sefi Atta explores the complexities of the African immigrants in America. The nurse receives news from her home often about happenings in the country and her family. But migration creates an emotional detachment from her family. This paper aims to portray the emotional imbalance and the cultural conflicts of the immigrants in America.

Keywords: Diaspora, Identity, Alienation, Migration, Immigrants.