genre nine: hairnet
In Americanah, Adichie weaves hair-as-theme through the narratives of her characters. As such, it’s fitting that the first flashback from Ifemelu’s salon in New Jersey starts, “Ifemelu had grown up in the shadow of her mother’s hair. It was black-black, so thick it drank two containers of relaxer at the salon . . . “(49). Enter Ifemelu’s erratic mother and Obinze’s goddess-like mother who in their natures prophesy how the lives of their children will come unbraided. The reader becomes intimate with the interior of both Ifemelu & Obinze’s homes. That is to say, she knows what “home” is to these fated lovers and why it is plausible that they would become so attached to one another and why, even with parting ways to seize opportunities in America (for Ifemelu) and England (for Obinze), and through the distance between them during more than fifteen years that pass – Ifemelu and Obinze’s love never dies. “Home” for each of them is fixed as the nest they built when they were young and after their worldwide wanderings they fly their way back to it.
Representing these dynamics, genre number nine is a photograph of a woven bird's nest made of hair extensions. To expand the concept, a student could conduct research in the context of hair salons, taking a Where's Waldo approach with her photography by embedding a chosen symbol (in this case, a hair-woven bird's nest representing "home" for Ifemelu and Obinze) in a strand of hair salons. Photographs are the souveniers of her rounds but as she the most valuable take-away is her growing sense that salons are universal hubs for candid conversation. The art of a stylist goes beyond cutting, weaving, and braiding hair and not all of his tools are as tangible as sheers. It's notable that the stylists who are most booked and who keep the longest standing clients become vaults for life stories.
In Americanah, Adichie weaves hair-as-theme through the narratives of her characters. As such, it’s fitting that the first flashback from Ifemelu’s salon in New Jersey starts, “Ifemelu had grown up in the shadow of her mother’s hair. It was black-black, so thick it drank two containers of relaxer at the salon . . . “(49). Enter Ifemelu’s erratic mother and Obinze’s goddess-like mother who in their natures prophesy how the lives of their children will come unbraided. The reader becomes intimate with the interior of both Ifemelu & Obinze’s homes. That is to say, she knows what “home” is to these fated lovers and why it is plausible that they would become so attached to one another and why, even with parting ways to seize opportunities in America (for Ifemelu) and England (for Obinze), and through the distance between them during more than fifteen years that pass – Ifemelu and Obinze’s love never dies. “Home” for each of them is fixed as the nest they built when they were young and after their worldwide wanderings they fly their way back to it.
Representing these dynamics, genre number nine is a photograph of a woven bird's nest made of hair extensions. To expand the concept, a student could conduct research in the context of hair salons, taking a Where's Waldo approach with her photography by embedding a chosen symbol (in this case, a hair-woven bird's nest representing "home" for Ifemelu and Obinze) in a strand of hair salons. Photographs are the souveniers of her rounds but as she the most valuable take-away is her growing sense that salons are universal hubs for candid conversation. The art of a stylist goes beyond cutting, weaving, and braiding hair and not all of his tools are as tangible as sheers. It's notable that the stylists who are most booked and who keep the longest standing clients become vaults for life stories.