Abstract

In this articled will attempt to explain the historical oppression of the Nigerian woman in her home country and how each little Nigerian girl is brought up to submit to the men in her life for her entire life span ,living in the background without a voice but many duties. It will explain how this woman moves to America and finds new freedoms and is presented with the option of assimilating into the new culture or maintain her country’s ways. The identity formation, issues and challenges are subjected to the theories of personality and social change. As the Nigerian woman finds herself in America and trying to understand her new surrounding and to adjust to the new freedoms that she encounters, she must also make the
A sense of belonging and a feeling that they were not going to be like those stereotypes that American’s pictured. The women stated that they felt empowered. The issue arises when they start to look and act more American than Nigerian. The acculturation and assimilation of the Nigerian women puts her in the crosshairs of both communities. The Nigerian community feels that the women are ashamed of who they are and their Nigerian culture. The American’s feel that the Nigerian is trying to deceive them by appearing to be what she is not. This stems from the history of Nigerian’s being labeled as scam artist and being involved in mail fraud (White, E. 2009). The Nigerian woman changes her look so she can have a chance at success in the western world and then she finds that she likes some of the ways of the land. In order for the Nigerian women to fit in she feels that she has to shed some of her cultural ways. She may change her hair color, dress in the local garb, and use the same terminology as those around her. This as innocent as it may sound the Nigerian has just set herself up for rejection from her own friends and family. Trying to maintain the group identity of the Nigerian community is desired but is hard to achieve while putting efforts to speak and act in the way of the community at large. The ties to the Nigerian community becomes stained as the women begin to appear to prefer assimilation to the new culture than the