Exploring Individual and Institutional Racism in ‘Homegoing’ by Yaa Gyasi

Racism: Overt and Covert Dimensions

As defined by Stokely Carmichael, “Racism is both overt and covert,” It takes two closely related forms individual whites acting against individual blacks and acts by the total white community against the black community. We call these individual racism and institutional racism. The first consists of overt acts by individuals.

“Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi: A Tale of Racial Legacy

Homegoing, by author Yaa Gyasi, is about the descendants of an African village woman named Maame. She births a daughter while enslaved in a village and another daughter after escaping back to her home village; the repercussion of her choices, her daughters never meet. Effia, Maame’s first daughter, is married to a white man who came to Africa as part of the slave trade, while her sister Esi, Maame’s youngest daughter, is sold into United States slavery.

Effia’s Journey: Individual Racism and Opportunism

Effia, who was born in Ghana outside of her village within her story and lineage, dealt with individual racism and opportunism. The book starts with her story as a young developing girl in a small village that speaks their own language; as a blossomed teen, Effia’s family wants her to seek a husband so he can support the family. One of the opportunists in the story is her stepmother Baaba who is jealous of Effia’s looks and notes that she could care less about her because she isn’t her child. Woo Effie’s father, to see all the benefits of her future marriage with a colonist, single-handedly arranges Effie’s marriage to the British soldier, even against her husband’s wishes. James Collins is a part of the individual racism; he met Effia during a meeting with the chief of Fanteland.

In a short time, he comes back as a governor to ask Baaba for Effia’s hand. Baaba convinces everyone that Effia should marry James because He offers thirty pounds and twenty-five shillings a month. He practices individual racism tactics because he is using the same strategies that he has acquired as a slave capturer, like “bribery” to get himself a wife. During Effia and James’ wedding ceremony, he requested her to say things she didn’t understand due to her traditional environment; this was like, in many ways, how white men felt like they were sanctified to force slave ships because of Christianity. Now her traditions are erased because of her white spouses’ white membership that he needed to keep.

Esi’s Struggle: Institutional Racism and Acceptance

Esi is the forgotten sister who didn’t have the opportunity to be delivered to a rich white colonist because she had a deadbeat father. Esi dealt with the worst formality of racist antics; through the American slavery environment, she was subjected to exile, racism by population, and xenophobia. Esi had a situation in the Cape Coast Castle dungeon, an enviable ring of brutality that both she and her descendants experienced because of the slave trade. With a hard enough life, she had to also deal with a man’s self-dubious masculinity with a character named Big Man. He is abusive, but in many stereotypical ways, Esi is always defending him, like when she watched Abronoma sleep. Tries to comfort her by saying that if Big Man had not beaten Abronoma, everyone would have thought he was weak. Making his actions acceptable.
Due to racism, both women accepted terrifying things.

References:

1. Carmichael, S. (1967). Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America. Vintage.
2. Gyasi, Y. (2016). Homegoing. Vintage.
3. Beaulieu, E. (2012). The opportunistic tendencies of people. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42(6), 1059-1060.
4. Segal, L. (2003). Opportunism as a Social Identity. In Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Group Processes (Eds. M. A. Hogg & R. S. Tindale). Blackwell Publishing.