IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES (IJELCS )

E-ISSN 2545-5702
P-ISSN 2695-2157
VOL. 6 NO. 1 2021

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Ideational Representation of Ideology and Identity in Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah and Barret Igoni’s Blackass

Mbazuigwe, Philip Eze & Anurudu, M. Stephen

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Abstract

This study investigates how Adichie and Igoni employ Halliday’s ideational metafunction as a linguistic strategy of representing different ideologies, identities and social relations. Many ideological and identity studies have been done on Adichie’s Americanah and Igoni’s Blackass (BA, henceforth) but enough critical studies have not been done using Hallidays ideational metafunction. Therefore, the theoretical orientation is anchored on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL henceforth) as a tool to explicate the linguistic resources that express ideology, identity and social relation in the texts under study. The study reveals that Adichie and Igoni espouse the process itself, participants in the process and circumstantial elements to communicate their views about ideology, identity and social relations. The results indicate that Adichie campaigns for ethnic/national identity, symmetrical relations, social equality but battles against racism, social inequality and asymmetrical relations. Igoni’s ideological and identity interest is on anti-colonialism; neo-colonialism, racism, social inequality, asymmetrical relations and identity crisis. The results prove that ideology, identity and social relation embedded in the texts have been decoded with the aid ideational metafunction. In conclusion, the study supports that language is a channel that enables writers or speakers to construct ideas, opinions, concepts, emotions, ideologies, identities and social relations.

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