Narrating the Self Through Things: Commodities and Diasporic Identity in Unigwe's Fiction

This paper examines the interplay between modern migration, late capitalism, and identity formation, focusing on how migrant characters negotiate their sense of self in both pre-migratory contexts and diaspora spaces. Drawing on Avtar Brah’s Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities (1996) and Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street, the study explores diaspora as a site of fluid identities, where processes of formation and reformation occur in tandem with capitalist frameworks. By analyzing characters in On Black Sisters’ Street, the research reveals how identities of self and other are constructed, objectified, and commodified, both in the homeland and in the diaspora. Findings indicate that the commodification of identities is closely aligned with capitalist imperatives, resulting in alienation, exclusion, and social distance, which perpetuate the challenges and complexities of migration. The study underscores the theoretical and practical significance of understanding diaspora spaces as arenas where identity, power, and capitalism intersect.