WOMEN AS ECO-ACTIVISTS IN SELECTED NIGER DELTA NOVELS AND PLAYS

Abstract

Eco-activists, including those portrayed in Niger Delta literature, are advocates of sustainable environmental practices. Existing studies on the struggle against environmental degradation in Niger Delta literature have concentrated on men as leading eco-activists, while women are marginalised and treated as victims. This study was, therefore, designed to examine the roles of women as eco-activists in selected Niger Delta novels and plays, with a view to establishing the significance of women in the struggle for environmental regeneration.

Ecofeminism was adopted as framework, while interpretive design was used. Six novels: Vincent Egbuson’s Love My Planet, May Ifeoma Nwoye’s Oil Cemetery, Helon Habila’s Oil on Water, Kaine Agary’s Yellow-Yellow, Tanure Ojaide’s The Activist, and Promise Ogochukwu’s Outrage; and two plays: Tess Onwueme’s What Mama Said and Then She Said It were purposely selected for their shared thematic foci on ecological issues and women’s eco-resistance activities. The texts were subjected to literary analysis.

Collectively and individually, eco-activism is championed by women in the selected texts. In Love My Planet, Outrage, The Activist, Oil Cemetery, What Mama Said and Then She Said It, women collectively protest against environmental injustice. In Love My Planet, women engage in tree planting activities to enhance environmental regeneration. In Outrage, women halt the activities of KP Oil in protest against environmental pollution. In Oil Cemetery and The Activist, women's nude protests show the seriousness of their agitation against environmental pollution. However, in Love My Planet, Oil Cemetery, Oil on Water, and Yellow-Yellow, women individually protest against environmental degradation. Toundi, in Love My Planet, protests against environmental despoliation by creating awareness on the effects of gas flaring in Daglobe Delta. She also, through her article entitled, “I care for the environment”, sensitises the people on the need to care for the environment. In Oil on Water, Boma joins a religious group to preserve Irikefe Island. In Oil Cemetery, Rita sues and wins her law suit against Zebulon Oil Company for degrading the environment of Ubolu community. Zilayefa, in Yellow-Yellow, courageously extricates herself from the web of financial dependence on environmental exploiters in Port Harcourt, which metaphorically suggests that the Niger Delta should severe herself from any relationship that encourages environmental pollution in the region. In all the texts, except Onwueme’s What Mama Said and Then She Said It, women privilege non-violent protest in their resistance against environmental degradation. In What Mama Said and Then She Said It, women uphold a more radical approach to eco-activism by abducting the exploiters of environment to demand the stoppage of environmental pollution in Sufferland and Hungeria respectively. Female characters in all the texts resist environmental despoliation.

The selected novels and plays depict women as eco-activists, and the significance of their resistance and pro-active initiatives in checking environmental degradation in the region of Niger Delta.