Every day, there are societal issues that are trending on social media. Issues to do with sex, gender, among others. The writers are primarily responsible for presenting these issues on social media, which subsequently attracts attention from a wide range of sources, including friends, proteges, and family. Recently, Chimamanda Adichie’s essay sparks an online debate.
Chimamanda and her work
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer and activist. She is a Nigerian author who has written novels, short tales, and nonfiction. Adichie is a feminist who has written several books. Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah are her novels, as well as the short story collection ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’ and the book-length essay ‘We Should All Be Feminists.’
Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions and Notes on Grief are two of her most recent novels (this year). She received a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2008.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian novelist, has coached and mentored African writers such as Akwaeke Emezi through her yearly creative writing workshop for more than 10 years. More than 200 people have graduated from the program, which happens in Lagos and Awka, Nigeria, and includes rising stars such as Ayobami Adebayo and Jowhor Ile, the first Nigerian to receive the Etisalat Prize for Literature. Chimamanda Adichie says that the program is more than just a program, but through it there is the creation of strong ties.
The Feud between Chimamanda Adichie and Akwaeke Emezi
At first glance, Adichie and Emezi’s friendship appeared to be based on mutual admiration. Adichie claims she assisted Emezi by editing one of their pieces, publishing it, and writing a beautiful introduction. Things deteriorated after Adichie’s 2017 interview, prompting Emezi to comment on social media, claiming that Adichie’s remarks endangered transgender people’s lives and rights.
Last year, the feud erupted after Adichie defended a post about sex and gender which J.K. Rowling had written, which her detractors labeled as transphobic, as “absolutely fair.”
“When Adichie stated such things and then doubled down and then insulted those of us who called her out, she termed the response “trans-noise”. I was gutted,” Emezi wrote on Twitter.
Adichie accused a former student of publicly abusing her in a lengthy post published on her website on Tuesday (which also appears to be the first time she addressed this issue), following a 2017 interview in which Adichie remarked:
“I do not think it is a healthy thing to talk about women’s difficulties being precisely the same as the issues of trans people.”
Adichie described the personal fight as an example of how some young people have exploited or abused social media as an ideological battering ram rather than a place to link and seek understanding.
While Adichie did not name Emezi or any other students in her essay, Emezi quickly responded on Instagram, claiming that Adichie had published emails without permission and that the post was written to incite hordes of transphobic Nigerians to harass her. Emezi later chastised the publishing business for promoting Adichie, the author of the novels mentioned above.
Thoughts on social media
Due to the dispute between Adichie and Emezi, people are debating whether social media outlets such as Twitter are doing more harm than good.
Her critics’ views on the essay
Social media erupted shortly after Adichie published her essay. For hours, her name was a trending topic on Twitter, eliciting tens of thousands of replies. Others agreed that certain people use social media as a weapon, while others deconstructed and ridiculed her views on gender.
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