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