Migration And The Notion Of Return In NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names And Imbolo Mbue’s Behold The Dreamers

Africans are leaving the continent in droves as a result of the harsh socio-economic and political situations. People who are leaving to seek better opportunities elsewhere envisage a bleak future if they remain in their country. Many Africans have migrated to Western countries especially the United States in search of a better life but most often when they get there, they do realize that things are not the way they imagine it to be. While some do return to their homeland, others are unable to return out of shame for failing to achieve economic success or for several other reasons. Both NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers explore this idea. This paper draws from postcolonial theory and employs the qualitative analysis method to examine the experiences of the characters in the two texts. The paper concludes that traveling to America may not offer socio-economic emancipation for every African migrant.