Enslaved Souls and Bodies in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street

Abstract

Chika Unigwe is a standout voice among contemporary African authors in America. She is the author of four novels and numerous short stories and essays. She writes about love, loss as well as cultural and racial confusions which continue to trouble her.

On Black Sisters' Street is one of her novels that illustrates the suffering of four African women of being double colonized; the first, is mind colonization while the second is the soul and body colonization in the new world. The writer tries in this novel to shed the light on the fact that colonization’s aftermath is still existed.

The four Nigerian women dreamt of getting a better life in Europe and hence they decided to migrate to fulfill their dreams. To their surprise, they encounter another kind of colonization and racism in Europe. Their dreams fed out and turns to a horrible nightmare when they were forced to be slaves working in jobs they did not choose.

The turning point in the characters' lives occurred when one of them was murdered when she decides to rebel and leave the work.

This research delves into the lingering specters of oppression that persists long after the formal abolition of imperial rule. It explores how systems of economic subjugation, racial hierarchies, and social marginalization continue to shackle individuals, not only physically but also psychologically.

The novel proves beyond the shadow of doubt that the dream of the west is but an illusion as seen through African eyes by telling the stories of the four women using a raw and vivid flashback storytelling. It makes so clear for the reader that in our new world which is supposed to be free of colonization, colonization is still as powerful as before and the look of superiority and inferiority is still ruling the world.