The Lens of Multiculturalism

Other Lens and the Importance of Self-Irony

In The Nigerian-Nordic Girls' Guide to Lady Problems, Faith Adiele tells her personal story of uterine fibroids from various lens, lens gained from a lifetime of code switching between the uniquely multicultural experiences gained by being raised by a Nordic mother, born of a Nigerian father, and coming of age in segregated America.  These lens help us better see the various reactions to her fibroids -- the pain they cause, the assault on her womanhood, her potential future with her boyfriend, and the tools she has at her disposable to confront them.  Afterall, from what other vantage could she tell this story?

To write of her condition solely from western, medical jargon would be too detached. To Faith, her fibroids are so much bigger than the cold, detached word, "Myoma." Furthermore, after being traumatized by her hospital stay as a child, she does not exactly associate hospitals with warm-fuzzy experiences. Nonetheless, she does use the medical establishment to help her understand some aspects of her fibroids, such as risk factors, symptoms, treatment options, and the information gleaned from her friend's father, a gynecologist.

Faith quickly leaves the bio-physical realm to delve deeper, touching upon the internalized, generational trauma that the fibroids bring to bear from their location deep in her core. She draws parallels between her and her mother. Her mother, also with fibroids. Her mother, misdiagnosed with "hysteria" when, in fact, she was suffering from ovarian cancer.  Her mother, punished for the biracial child growing in her womb.

Faith also draws upon her Finnish and Nigerian heritage to explain her visceral reaction to these new, unwelcome guests. Finnish mythological characters, such as Hel and Loki, dance through the pages. The book opens with a an Igbo creation poem, and there are several more references to the cultural importance of fertility. Of what it means to be a woman. The earth. Everything. Through these parables, and via dialogues with African friends, we gain a sense of the gravity that her at-risk-fertility plays in terms of her sense of identity as a Nigerian Woman and in her relationship with her African boyfriend.

But she is more than just a Finish, Nigerian woman.  She also is a modern, independent woman, one who puts more focus on career than on childbearing. We see the complexity inherent when these conflicting identities clash.  As she is multifaceted, so too must be her fibroids.

Last but not least, running like a current throughout the entire novel, is her tone of self-irony and humor. This links all the different lens into one unified voice.  Furthermore, without this light touch, the material risks feeling too heavy or individually specific.  Through her humor, the reader can identify and empathize more with Faith.  We enjoy the journey given from her unique perspective. 

Comments

  1. Anna EriceOctober 10, 2017 at 2:18 PM

    Melody,
    I appreciate how you noticed all of the different parts of her identity that influence this narrative and how they come to light in this novel. A lot of these narratives I failed to focus on, overlooking them for the Nigerian-Nordic biracial aspect of her identity that takes place through one of the narratives. I also did not really think about how powerful Adiele's voice was in this piece. It was really strong and interesting, which I think most of us failed to comment on.
    -Anna

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 10, 2017 at 10:59 PM

    I really liked your comment, "As she is multifaceted, so too must be her fibroids." Adiele is mutifaceted in all the ways that all people are - she is creative, funny, intelligent, and so on - but her body is also mutifaceted because of its extremely disparate origins. Because Adiele is a Nordic-Nigerian woman living in the United States, her body - and fibroids - reflect this, and so too must her story. She is telling a story about her body, her biracial body, and she must pull from all of these different places - Nordic and Nigerian beliefs/mythologies, her mother, living in Iowa - in order to give an accurate depiction of herself living with fibroids.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ElmazwritesOctober 11, 2017 at 3:44 PM

    Melody,
    The layers are examined as well as the shits in your analysis. In particular the different things, sources, traditions that get referenced. " Faith quickly leaves the bio-physical realm to delve deeper, touching upon the internalized, generational trauma that the fibroids bring to bear from their location deep in her core. She draws parallels between her and her mother. Her mother, also with fibroids. Her mother, misdiagnosed with "hysteria" when, in fact, she was suffering from ovarian cancer. Her mother, punished for the biracial child growing in her womb.' Here you point to the personal legacy and other places, medical experiences. This creates more impact in her credibility
    nice!
    e

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"The Stuff That Dream Are Made Of" and "Death of a Mannequin"

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of             Before anything else, I just have to say – wow. Azar Nafisi is one hell of an inspirational writer. She starts off talking about her sense of home. That Iran had always been the home that she wanted to go back to when she was studying abroad and that classic novels and poetry became a sort of home for her. Then she tells us that she finally did go home to Iran only to find that it was not the home she remembered. She arrived to witness the stripping of rights and freedom, of creativity and imagination. Lastly, Nafisi challenges her readers to ponder our own humanity.             Her words are eloquent and impactful. They’re the type of words you’d expect to hear from a great leader. She started slow and worked her way up to a profound ending. I didn’t expect the beginning, where Nafisi describes herself as a spoiled brat running...
Read more

"Death of a Mannequin" and "The Stuff that Dreams are Made of" Response

Arya Samuelson Both stories challenge the idea of a “singular historical moment.” Nafisi makes it clear that every action of the regime pointed backwards. Ayatollah Khomeini claimed to be “restoring women’s dignity and rescuing them from the degrading and diabolical ideas that had been thrust upon them by Western imperialists and their agents, who had conspired for decades to destroy Iranian culture and traditions” (3). In other words, Ayatollah Khomeini insisted that he was trying to make Iran great again. As Nafisi counters, “in formulating this claim, the Islamic regime not only robbed the Iranian people of their rights, it robbed them of their history” (3). She goes on to discuss the powerful “process of self-questioning and transformation” that comprised the acquisition of rights for women throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century.   By the time of the revolution, “women were active in all areas of life in Iran.” This section prompted me to consider the distin...
Read more

"My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes" Response

By Lila Kalick "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" and "Death of a Mannequin" I thought a lot this week about the role of artists and writers in society and about the notion that the things these individuals make can last beyond their historical moment. With all that is happening these days -- in the news, in the world -- it can be hard to keep perspective beyond the present day. It seems me that there is a hard question that we need to ask ourselves as artists: Can we live in our imaginations exploring the space of what things "can be?" Should we? A lot of what I'm learning is that we don't have to disengage fully with the world in order to make things that last, but it is somewhat helpful. Ultimately, if we disengage enough in the current moment, ignore minutia, and focus on the bigger picture, I think we'll (or at least I'll) be more effective at making art that is transformative and that creates the change we want to see in the ...
Read more