Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

Americanah: A novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• Adichie’s novel follows two lovers who must split up and leave their home country of Nigeria. The story explores what living abroad means for their African identities, and what happens when they return home.
• Adichie’s work similarly looks at themes of isolation, Exile and Return to the homeland, African experiences in America, and life on the undocumented fringe of society.
• gives another take on the African experience abroad, political changes, and the current legacy of racism in America and Europe
• Americanah on SuperSummary

“Ghana Calls” by W.E.B. Du Bois

• Written just after Ghana gained independence, W.E.B. Du Bois’ poem is a call to readers to turn from white European and American cultural dominance and embrace the “might and power” of Ghana’s rich cultural history.
• The poem allows students to explore an American perspective on Ghanaian history in the context of the American civil rights movement.