The Creation of the Third Space in Kehinde (1994) Through Chi

Abstract

Most postcolonial critics focus on cultural hybridity, centering their discussions on abjection of a hybrid culture in maintaining a purely
autonomous identity in a given postcolonial text. However, Emecheta’s Kehinde (1994) exhibits a multicultural context in which Nigerian characters are socialized. This context entails cultural exchange which might lead to the acquisition of new forms of life between Africans (Nigerians) and the British. This paper looks at the cultural hybridity in its broader sense by linking it to Homi Bhabha’s concept of The Third Space in expressing Emecheta’s attribution of her cultural belief on chi as a technique in solving the cultural limbo pertaining to Africans in the diaspora. The analysis focuses on the livelihood of Kehinde as an African Igbo woman whose purpose is to maintain her  Igbo identity based on marriage life while living in Europe.