IJAFRS International Journal of African Studies 2710-4680 SvedbergOpen ijafrs-1-1-003 10.51483/IJAFRS.1.1.2021.24-36 Research Paper Transnational sex trade: prostitution, identity crisis, and memories in On Black Sisters Street, by Chika Unigwe MamahAbou-Bakar 1 * 1Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, Affiliated with Africana Studies Major Program, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN 38112, USA. E-mail: mamaha@rhodes.edu *Corresponding author:Abou-Bakar Mamah, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, Affiliated with Africana Studies Major Program, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN 38112, USA. E-mail: mamaha@rhodes.edu 03 2021 1 1 24 36 Abstract

Migration phenomena have been at the forefront of transnational issues in recent years. Many African immigrants who are part of the pool set their sights on Europe. If immigrants’ purpose and expectations of migrating seem to be the same, the transatlantic mechanisms and the actual outcome may be quite different. In her book, On Black Sisters Street, Chika Unigwe dug deep into the complexities of push and pull factors that shed light on one of the contemporary world’s pressing issues: the transnational sex trade. Even though prostitution seems to be the dominant theme in the book, I argue that the protagonists’ stories are shaped in part by identity crises at home and abroad. This article explores the push and pull factors on one hand, and on the other hand analyses the intersections between prostitution, identity crisis, and memories through the transnational sex trade.

 Keywords Black Transnational Sex trade Prostitution Identity crisis Memories Chika Unigwe References AdichieC.N. (2013). Americanah. Alfred A. Knopf. BarclayF. (2010). Kristeva’s stranger within: the question of the foreigner in Daniel Prévost’s Le Passé sous silence. Paragraph, 33(1), 1–19. Bastida-RodriguezP. (2014). The invisible flâneuse: European cities and the African sex worker in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters Street. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 49(2), 203–214. BhugraD. (2004). Migration, distress and cultural identity. British Medical Bulletin, 69, 129–141. CazenaveO. (1999). Rebellious Women: The New Generation of Female African Novelists. Three Continents Pr. ColeT. (2011). Open City. Random House Trade Paperbacks. DundyA. Translator. (1998). Blue-White-Red. By Alain Mabanckou. Présence Africaine. EberstadtF. (2011, April 29). Tales from the Global Sex Trade. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/books/review/book-review-on-black-sisters-street-by-chika-unigwe.html EvaristoB. (2011). On Black Sisters Street, by Chika Unigwe. Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/black-sisters-street-chika-unigwe-5486150.html EzeC. (2014). Feminism with a Big ‘F’: Ethics and the rebirth of African feminism in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters Street. Research in African Literatures, 45(4), 89–103. FlowersR.B. (2011). Prostitution in the Digital Age: Selling Sex From the Suite to the Street: Selling Sex From the Suite to the Street. Praeger. Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women. (n.d.). GAATW-IS Comment: Amnesty International calls for the decriminalisation of sex work. https://gaatw.org/resources/e-bulletin/819-gaatw-is-comment-amnesty-international-calls-for-the-decriminalisation-of-sex-work HornseyM.J. (2008). Social identity theory and self-categorization theory: A historical review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(1), 204–222. JagerM. Translator. (2008). The Abandoned Baobab: The Autobiography of a Senegalese Woman. By Ken Bugul, Virginia UP. KhumaloF. (2007). Seven Steps to Heaven. Jacana Media. LalamiL. (2006). Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits. Harvest Book. NkealahN. A. (2017a). Parade of whores and dumbs: sexism as an obstacle to social progress in Fred Khumalo’s Seven Steps to Heaven. Gender & Behaviour, 15(4), 10525–10541. NkealahN. A. (2017b). The dynamics of women’s empowerment and disempowerment in Cameroon: A study of Anne Tanyi-Tang’s Play, Ewa. Gender & Behaviour, 15(4), 10543–10551. NormanL.Ros S. Translators. (2003). The Belly of the Atlantic. By Fatou Diome, Anne Carrière. OlivierP. (2019, November 13). Procès du réseau de prostituées nigérianes: jusqu’à 10 ans de prison requis. https://www.rfi.fr/fr/france/20191113-proces-prostitutees-nigerianes-prison-requis ReinaresLaura Barberán. (2019). The pedagogies of sex trafficking postcolonial fiction: consent, agency, and neoliberalism in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street. Canadian Review of Comparative Literature. 46(1), 56–76. ThompsonW. (2015). Work, sex and power: the forces that shaped our history. Pluto Press. UnigweC. (2009). On Black Sisters Street. Ohio UP. WagenaarH.AmesbergerH.AltinkS. (2017). Designing prostitution policy: intention and reality in regulating the sex trade. Bristol UP.