Shifting Allegiances

Author(s): Amaka Lily

Location(s): Nigeria

Genre(s): Fiction

Era(s): early 21st century

A wonderful first person narrative of a Nigerian girl’s impressions of America and the effects of culture shock.

Deka has had a difficult life in Nigeria. The most populous nation in Africa suffers from corruption and rampant poverty. She can’t go to college or get a job. Nigerians who had the means, had since fled to Western nations. Deka would have left herself, but lacked the means to do so.

When she finally gets the opportunity to come to America, she doesn’t look back. She is sure that America will be great and that she will get the financial prosperity she lacked. At first, it appears that way, but as America continues to unfold, she begins to see a side that no one told her about, a side that causes her to make plans to return to Nigeria.

On her first visit back, Deka realizes that she has changed. Irrevocably. She can no longer live in Nigeria the way she had previously done. Since she does not want to live in America either, she arrives at a cross road. Does she continue with her plans to return to Nigeria or does she learn to work with America?

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