Throughout Adichie’s entire novel Americanah, Ifemelu encounters and immerses herself into many different “civic spaces”. She does this for the reason to connect with the culture and understand what it means and takes to be American in the United States. However, she does not want to fully embrace the American culture and its civics due to her refusal to lose her African heritage. One of the “civic spaces” Ifemelu connects with the most would be through her online blog. Through her blog she is allowed to share her opinions with the world on subjects she is interested and passionate about. They are subjects on everyday life or the communities around her which engage her in discussing what makes the people around her citizens or essentially “good” citizens.
The blog functions very well for both Ifemelu and her readers and commenter’s that follow the blog. It allows Ifemelu to express her ideas and observations into a community of citizens she can learn from. She can then take their comments and opinions to make sense of her unexplained ideas or change her own views on a topic. The blog also functions as a tool for readers to discover new ideas about the community and world around them but also to help formulate those ideas into their own creations to share with an audience. I believe Adichie is sending forth the idea that civic life is all around you and can be included in almost every activity that you do. Whether it be sharing ideas with others, gathering and learning from others, or formulating ideas for the betterment of the community; civic life is part of our everyday life and everything we do.