Colonial Africa

This is the book's broad strokes setting, in terms of both geography (i.e. the continent of Africa) and cultural context. Specifically, Africa in the mid-twentieth Century was still under a significant amount of governance by non-African nations like Great Britain. This defined the living conditions, the mindset, and the relative value of Africa's indigenous citizens - in general, as racism-defined objects of exploitation, an umbrella definition of the circumstances in which Nnu Ego's story unfolds.

Nigeria

Nigeria is the African country where the two communities in which Nnu Ego lives her life (rural Ibuzo, urban Lagos) are established. At the time at which the narrative is set, Nigeria is in the process of defining the balance between being a British colony and establishing its own autonomy. In that sense, there is a metaphorical echo here of the personal situation of Nnu Ego, whose life is essentially...