Paper

Here you can find some more information on the paper that is obligatory for the course.

I will make an in-depth analysis on how migration can affect your identity and the way you feel about yourself and the world. This is very relevant for the course, because the collection is written entirely from a female persepective. The themes ans subjects closely align with the course as well.

The final paper cannot be found here as it is not yet finished.

abstract:

For my paper for this course, I have chosen to work on Ijeoma Umebinyuo's poetry. Umebinyuo is a Nigerian woman who migrated to the States to pursue an education there, and has since gained success. In Umebinyuo's most well-known collection of poetry, 'Questions for Ada', love is the main theme. To be more specific, the poems seem to emphasize self-love and respect, or the lack thereof, in women. It is a very heavy read, which introduces a lot of very heavy themes, such as rape, abuse and suicide.

Another important theme in the poetry is migration and its impact. Umebinyuo herself has a migration background, so she speaks from her own experiences. This makes her poetry even more impactful, as she seems to associate migration mainly with negative feelings. The poems imply that migration compromises self-confidence and thus self-love and respect. I will therefore argue that in 'Questions for Ada', self-love and migration are closely interlinked, and that Umebinyuo claims that migration has a very negative impact on self-love and self-respect and therefore love in general, especially in women.