Abstract
This article adopts the concept of ideological passing to analyse the
character of Eugene in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Purple
Hibiscus (2003). The article expands on the traditional understanding
of racial passing, namely presenting oneself as white due to
possessing or emulating physical traits associated with whiteness,
to encompass a form of passing through ideological alignment with
Western norms and performing whiteness in multiple ways.
Eugene’s strict adherence to Western Christianity, language and
culture and his rejection of Igbo traditions represent a form of
passing that reflects the enduring impact of coloniality in postcolonial
Nigeria. While Eugene is able to access forms of relative
power through ideological passing, the act of passing is inherently
precarious and requires constant vigilance and sacrifice. This article
thus reads Eugene’s violence partly as an externalisation of his
anxiety due to his attempts to pass and as a further act of passing
by repeating the violence he suffered by white missionaries. This
study contributes to African decolonial studies by discussing the
complex negotiations of power in post-colonial contexts as
reflected in literary texts like Adichie’s novel.