Ethnospecific concepts and mixed identity construction in fiction

Abstract

The present paper explores WAHALA, AFRO and ASO EBI as ethnocspecific concepts which operate in the novel “Wahala” by N. May, an Anglo- Nigerian writer, and allow her to depict identity construction in biracial female characters along the normal, hyperethnic and hypoethnic trajectories.

The type of hybrid identity constructed by a mixed-race person is a function of one’s perception of their own group and other groups. An optimum level of tolerance towards one’s group and other ethnicities is referred to as normal identity among mixed individuals within the framework of this research. Hyperethnicity manifests itself in hybrid identity through foregrounding one of the cultures of one’s parents, whereas eliminating a culture as unimportant compared to the other one is a marker of hypoethnicity.

The results obtained through a study of the abovementioned concepts as represented in N. May’s novel show that the protagonists’ mixed identity develops along the hypoethnic trajectory when they reject the African half of their hybrid self. Hyperethnicity develops alongside giving more prominence to that very part of their cultural identity. Normal hybrid identity in its turn is constructed due to emphasizing the moral anchors of one’s mixed-race group and putting their personal qualities and deeds before their roots.

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