Memories of Africa: Home and abroad in the United States. Toyin Falola

In this book, Toyin Falola examines the theme of African diaspora in the USA with a larger emphasis on two sets of African diaspora groups: The first set are Africans who migrated from Africa in the recent modern period for several reasons ranging from a search for a greener pasture to insecurity, political turmoil, and economic hardships (pp. 20–21). Falola observes that a crub of Africans who recently migrated to the USA are continuously interested in what is happening in Africa and in their host countries. They relate and interfere with their home countries’ socio-political activities in different ways with inferences and counter-inferences to their experiences abroad (p. 22). The second set of diaspora Africans Falola engages in his work are African Americans (p. 4). Although their migration to the USA is very different because it was a forceful and brutal migration as a result of slavery, many of them still view Africa as the home of their ancestry, even if they do not return to it (p. 28).

While discussing Africans in the diaspora recently, Falola opines that many immigrants continue to have memories of home and dreams of returning to it someday. He also observes that being in diaspora means occupying a space rather than a place (p. 6). Unlike a place, African immigrants perceive space as temporary and not permanent because they dream of returning home someday (pp. 13 and 133). It is noteworthy that Falola’s book contributes immensely to discourses on African and African American Diaspora Studies in many ways, but mainly, his application of the theory of double consciousness of W. E. B. Du Bois to examine the lives of recent African immigrants in America, a discourse of selected African immigrants and their diaspora experiences (memoirs), and a selected African Americans and their views about Africa.

First, on several occasions, scholars of social sciences and humanities have discussed Du Bois’s ideas on double consciousness in relationship to African American experiences rather than applying them to a wide range of other groups. In this book, Falola applies the theory of double consciousness to the experiences of African immigrants in the USA (p. 18). He first acknowledged that the historical context of double consciousness pertains to African Americans in America, but the concept applies to African immigrants, too (p. 19). He looks at the binary feelings of diaspora Africans after they leave their countries (pp. 18–19): They desire to be part of their host country, belong to a space, and contribute to the system, and at the same time, they will not neglect their home country, culture, and practices. These feelings get immigrants caught up between two identities and double consciousness of being African and American immigrants.

Second, Falola selected the literature (writings) of some African immigrants who live in America but are still in touch with home and are interested in showcasing their Africanness. In their various writings, these immigrants capture African immigrants’ lives and experiences in America. Falola discusses numerous reasons why Africans are likely to leave their home countries from the 1990s to now. Falola, like many other scholars of immigration and diaspora studies, argued for many reasons (p. 21). In Chapter 2, wherein he used Cherno Njie as a case study of many other African immigrant communities, he gives the historical context of why Njie was forced to flee The Gambia. He left The Gambia after the military coup that brought in Yahya Jammeh who started closing the ranks of freedom of speech for Gambian citizens (pp. 51–52). Jammeh started imprisoning people who spoke against his regime and his policies. Therefore, it was around that time, and for the same reason, that Njie left The Gambia to settle in America. Years after settling in the USA, Njie did not exempt himself from the socio-political activities of The Gambia, but he was continuously in touch with home. Sometimes, he uses his experiences in America to advocate for a similar freedom of speech and better governance in The Gambia. Falola argues that many African immigrants in the diaspora similarly keep in touch with home (p. 148).

Third, Falola examines the views of a number of African Americans about Africa. The discussion on whether Africa is still home for African Americans is not a new one since the abolition of slavery. While it is an undoubted fact that all African Americans have their roots in Africa, a few argue that there is a disruption between their root and being in America, where they started life all over again. Falola selected a list of people from former enslaved Africans and well-known figures in African American society from the late 1800s to the early 1900s who unequivocally have different perspectives about Africa. A few from his list are Elaudah Equaino, Fredrick Douglas, Booker T. Washington, and W. E. B. Du Bois (p. 176). Most of these figures have a mixed perception about whether or not Africa is home for them and the rest of the Black Americans. For example, Du Bois, who argued for double consciousness of African Americans, lived half of his life in America and later in Ghana due to his friendship with the then Ghanaian president, Kwame Nkrumah (pp. 146 and 182). Falola notes that in the mid-1900s, many African Americans tried to trace their ancestral roots to various African countries, especially Ghana, and they made an effort to either return to Ghana or visit it for a lifetime. Falola also discusses how some African Americans took pride in African culture, arts, music, and clothing during the Harlem Renaissance (p. 184). He argued that those account for a sense of their connection to their African roots.

Falola’s work is an excellent resource for recurring themes in African Diaspora Studies and African American Studies with a wide range of issues that intersect, like the former forceful migration of people of African descent to America through enslavement and the later voluntary movement of African people to America for a better life, education, business, and religious missions. Falola’s application of the theory of double consciousness to the later form of African migrants is both salient and exceptional and can be a resource for both academics and lay people who seek a deeper understanding of African and migration discourses. The only criticism Falola’s work may attract is on gender and migration. Selecting predominantly male figures as examples of the former and later voices of the African immigrant diaspora communities raises questions about the place of women in the discourse on migration and African diaspora. Falola only mentions names like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in passing but does not use them as primary examples as he does with Chermo Njie, Babatunde Kelebogile, and Michael Afolyan. Having more women figures would have made a difference in this work to avoid a continuous excluding of the female gender in discourses about African diaspora. Scholars of African diaspora, migration, and African studies will benefit so much from reading this book.