Scripting Diasporic Identity in Ama Ata Aidoo’s The Dilemma of a Ghost

Abstract

Fictionalized diasporas give insight into the socio-cultural underpinnings of the African Diaspora. These literary formations demonstrate localized processes of constructing diasporic and collective identity. African playwright Ama Ata Aidoo demonstrates this in The Dilemma of a Ghost. This article examines how Aidoo’s oeuvre intersects diasporic identity, imaginings of the African Diaspora reversal, and diasporic dimensions of displacement that collude with localized strategies of establishing belonging. It investigates the links between tropes of border-crossing, autochthony, and the cultural politics of belonging in the play. It offers a reverse look at diaspora experience, specifically the cultural manifestations of diasporic encounters which are rooted in African cultural politics and beliefs about the autochthonous. The play brings to the stage diasporic responses that are more culturally inspired rather than economically or politically motivated.

Key words:

• Ama Ata Aidoo
• African Diaspora
• autochthony
• The Dilemma of a Ghost

Notes

1 Uwe Walter, “Autochthony,” The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Wiley Online Library, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah22023/abstract.