Abstract

Nigerian-British prolific writer Buchi Emecheta’s semi- autobiographical novel ‘Second-Class Citizen' (1974) stands as a landmark work in African women's literature. It follows the transformative journey of the protagonist, Adah Ofili, from colonial Lagos to postcolonial London. She was born in Lagos, Nigeria where she spent her marginalized childhood amid patriarchal Igbo norms and migrated to London in her adulthood and faced racial discrimination as an immigrant in postcolonial Britain. The social forces in both the countries shape and constrain her sense of ‘self’. The novel stands as a powerful testament to what Patricia Hill Collins defines as ‘black feminist epistemology’, which is about understanding the world through the real-life experiences and knowledge of Black women who face oppression and how these lived experiences turn into their source of intellectual and political power. (Collins 18) Emecheta shows how her protagonist Adah builds her sense of self by working hard to get an education in patriarchal society where education for girls was forbidden, finds respectable employment in racial Britain and emerges as a successful writer. This growing independence builds her confidence and helps her break free from both male control and racist treatment. By analyzing this Buchi Emecheta establishes a Black feminist epistemology in the novel ‘Second Class Citizen’ where education, employment and writing become the primary vehicles for female empowerment proving she is a valuable human being, not just a "second-class" person.