Aftershocks: Post 2

Tale

Aftershocks is a memoir on Nadia Owusu’s life. It talks about how the instability in her childhood had long-term damaging effects in her adulthood. Nadia all her life has had instability. 

• Identity. She is Armenian- Ghanian. Being both white and black caused tension in her identity. This is because in some places she could pass for white and in others, she wasn’t considered Black enough. In the book, she talks about the tension within managing both identities.

• Family. Nadia’s family instability begins before colonialism. But more immediately, her parents divorced when she was young. The lack of a relationship with her biological mother impacted her perspective of her identity. She always wondered why she wasn’t worthy of attention. In the book, she explorers the complexities within the relationships with her family.

• Home. Since Nadia’s father and stepmother worked in the UN, Nadia never had one place she could call home. She moved in and out of Tanzania, England, Italy, Ethiopia, Uganda, and the United States. She explores how not having a physical home impacted how she never fully felt like she belonged. In all these places she had to battle with what her identity would be in that location.

Technicalities

Aftershocks is not written in chronological order. In the beginning, she states, “Time, for me, is not linear. I have written for meaning rather than order.” She instead organizes it by the different stages of an earthquake. At first, I thought this would make the book chaotic and hard to connect the dots. Yet, her way of writing this book made it more like a mystery book. As a detective, you don't have all the information to understand all the pieces of the story. Not telling the story in chronological order actually made it flow better. It allows us to understand her thoughts and the cause and effect of the events that occur. As she is discovering her identity, she brings us along on that intimate journey.

Takeaways

Aftershocks shook my perspective of belonging, identity, and the human experience. I personally resonated with many parts of Nadia’s story. At times, I felt like the book was reading me instead of the other way around. In all honesty, I think I need to read this book again to fully grasp all the complexities that she discussed. But for now, here are the 3 main takeaways.

1. We aren't born independent beings. Your ancestry has a subliminal way of showing up in your life whether you choose to acknowledge it or not
2. As humans, we yearn to have a place of belonging. But that doesn't have to be a physical place. Sometimes the best palace of belonging is finding belonging within you.
3. Running away from the reality of life is a temporary situation. Sooner or later you will have to deal with it.

Quotes to add to my collection:

• “I was fascinated by the place because no place had ever belonged to me; nor had I ever belonged to any place. ”

• “I ignored him because I couldn’t breathe, and oxygen was more important than politeness.”

• “The story Ghanaians often tell of the past focuses on the wrongs of Europeans. It was the Europeans, the story goes, who tore the family apart. This is true but it is not the whole story. What would happen, I wonder, what kind of reunion would be possible, if there was a real reckoning with the role of Africans in the slave trade? If there was a conversation about the need to make amends, to right wrongs, to heal wounds? ”

• “Pain is not always felt when and where it is inflicted.”