Transnational Traumatic Memory and African American Community-Building in Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing

Qin Deng

doi:10.25159/1753-5387/21288

Authors

Qin Deng Central China Normal University https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4604-3739

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/1753-5387/21288

Keywords:

Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing, trauma, African American Community

Abstract

This article examines trauma writing and community building in Homegoing by contemporary Ghanaian-American novelist Yaa Gyasi. The novel juxtaposes divergent traumatic histories experienced by diasporic Africans in both Africa and America, and distinct collective identities shaped by these memories through a parallel generational narrative. It is found that against the backdrop of large-scale African immigration to the United States, the two strands of traumatic memory converge and clash in America, revealing how the legacy of colonialism in Africa shapes both the trauma narratives and community identities constructed by native African Americans around slavery and its legacies. This article argues that the novel envisions a mode of diasporic solidarity that simultaneously looks back to Africa while remaining grounded in the realities of American society to establish a heterogeneous and inclusive African American community.

Author Biography

Qin Deng, Central China Normal University

School of Foreign Languages, Central China Normal University

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