In former president Barack Obama’s poignant memoir, Dreams from My Father, he reveals his desire to return to his roots in Kenya. Being of mixed heritage, Obama questions his African identity, as he had an African father but was raised by a white American mother, her parents, and his Indonesian stepfather. Even though he is half white, many Americans see him as black. Any memories that he had of his father were formed by discussions between his mother and her parents. That made it very difficult for him to connect to a father that he never really knew growing up at home. Although Obama resides in various places in his adult life, including Hawaii, California, and Chicago, he always wanted that special connection to his father and his African heritage.

Obama makes the trip to Kenya not only to understand his roots, but also to face the truth about his life. He has fears and doubts about his mixed heritage and knows that he must find answers in Kenya. Even though he discovers that Kenya is wracked with tribal conflicts and poverty, he feels a real connection to these people in a faraway land. He is disheartened with the quality of life that many Kenyans experience there every day. He wants to help these people and their continuing struggles. By connecting with their plight in this eastern part of Africa, Obama not only strengthens his connection to his fellow Kenyans, but he discovers what he was looking for all along—his heritage.

As a result of his trip to Kenya, a coherency in Barack Obama's narrative emerges.  It is one that connects his father, his heritage, and his future.

When he makes his trip to Kenya, Barack Obama notes that "the circle finally close[d]."  Throughout his life, there had been something of a disconnect between Barack and his identity.  He was never able to fully piece things together.  However, this changes as a result of his trip to Kenya, specifically as he stands between the graves of his father and grandfather:

I realized that who I was, what I cared about, was no longer just a matter of intellect or obligation, no longer a construct of words. I saw that my life in America...was connected with this small plot of earth an ocean away, connected by more than the accident of a name or the color of my skin. The pain I felt was my father's pain. My questions were my brothers' questions. Their struggle, my birthright.

The trip to Kenya provides insight into Barack's identity.  It ends up answering difficult questions that plagued him growing up.  These questions could not be answered because of the lack of perceived unity in his life.

It was only through his trip to Kenya, reestablishing connections with his roots, that he began to understand that he is an extension of his father and his heritage.  His identity became real and tangible.  It no longer existed in artificial social or academic constructions.  In reclaiming his "birthright," Barack Obama is able to understand what previously eluded his grasp.  

What does Obama learn in Kenya  in Dreams from My Father?

The full grasp of Obama's identity is the central focus of the time he spent in Kenya.  The comprehension of one's racial and ethnic identity for someone born of heritage that is not the cultural norm is always a complex issue.  Obama's background certainly fits such a description.  An absent father, as well as being raised by a White mother and grandparents helped to create a void of questioning, to a certain extent.  This was understood when he was able to go to Kenya, embracing a part of his life that lay, up to that point, beyond his reach.  The memoir addresses this with his exploration of what Kenya represented in his own life and how this is a part of his identity.  At the same time, the exploration of his roots in Kenya also explores how there is an aspect of choice that lies in all individuals from varied backgrounds.  While individuals might not be able to control their backgrounds or the parts of their identities that happen before their birth, Obama's narrative reflects that individuals can appropriate whatever aspects of their identity and background that they wish in defining who they are and how they interact with others.