Migration, Cultural Memory & Identity in Benjamin Kwakye’s The Other Crucifix

• Published in: ALT 34 Diaspora & Returns in Fiction p. 82
• Main Authors: HELEN YITAH, MICHAEL P.K. OKYEREFO
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Boydell & Brewer 18.11.2016
• Edition: NED - New edition
• Subjects: Anthropology; Applied anthropology; Arts; Behavioral sciences; Ceremonial objects; Ceremonies; Cognitive psychology; Collective memory; Communications; Criminal justice; Criminal law; Criminal punishment; Crosses; Crucifixes; Cultural anthropology; Cultural customs; Cultural identity; Devotional objects; Exile; Fiction; Group identity; Human geography; Human migration; Identity; Law; Literary characters; Literary elements; Literary genres; Literature; Memory; Narratives; Novels; Personality psychology; Protagonists; Psychology; Rituals; Social psychology; Social sciences
• ISBN: 1847011489; 9781847011480
• DOI: 10.1515/9781782048589-007

InThe Other Crucifix, Benjamin Kwakye explores the relationship between cultural memory and belongingness by focusing on the tensions that shape African identity in America. At the centre of the novel is a young Ghanaian man from a poor family who migrates to America for education and economic amelioration. His migration, although voluntary, places the protagonist-narrator, Jojo Badu, in a ‘middle passage’, a life-negating environment in which his cultural rootedness is ruptured, and which he must survive by holding on to memories that will eventually replace his original home. In this sense, ‘home’ and identity are defined by cultural memory,