Ecocritical Analysis of Tanure Ojaide’s The Activist and Kaine Agary’s Yellow-yellow
Chapter One
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The major aim of this research is to show the disastrous results we get by the rough handling of our environment by man. This we can detect by the actions of the characters in Yellow-Yellow and the Activist shown through the tools of ecoactivism and resistance. The researcher tries to avoid the repetition of the works previously done by other researchers by sticking to her research problem. Reference is made to other works depending on their connection and relation to this work, but the crux of the work is an in-depth analyses of the primary texts in order to fill the lacuna left by other researchers.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review of this research is done under man’s environment; the environment being the Niger Delta of Nigeria, the review of the key points relating to the research problem like oil spillage, pipeline vandalism and migration, and the review of the scholarly critique done on the primary texts. It is pertinent to do this so that one has an inclination of the reviews that are related to the research. It also helps to ascertain the lacuna to be filled in this research.
There are exploitative activities by man in the name of development. The negative impact of this development emanates from his neglect and disregard for the growth of a populace. Ambrose Akinbode in Introduction to Environmental Resource Management describes the environment as ‘the totality of the places and surroundings in which we live, work, and interact with other people in our cultural, religious, political and socio- economic activities for self fulfilment and advancement of our communities, societies or nations. It is within this environment that both natural and man-made things are found’ (2). Human activities have continuously revolved around man’s environment, the experiences and endeavours of man dwell with his inseparable and unceasing interaction with the environment.
Edward Relph in The Modern Urban Landscape notes that ‘the landscapes and places we live in are important. Whether we shape them or they shape us, they are the expressions of what we are. Our lives are impoverished precisely to the extent that we ignore them’ (14). In a strict and natural cause effect interrelationship, the biotic constituents are linked and balanced through the resource system of the environment. Relph’s claims connect to that of H.O. Agarval who in International Law and Human Rights reports that ‘the tremendous advancement of industrialization resulting in economic development had also continuously degraded the human environment’ (285). Furthermore, urbanization, over- population, and poverty also intensify the problem. In the present age, human activities exert enormous influence on the natural conditions of the entire planet.
Since Nigeria’s independence, the nation has been facing environmental challenges. There are some critiques who believe that the people of the Niger Delta are marginalised, while others argue that the degradation in the area is caused by poor management of resources by the government. In The Nigerian State, Oil Exploration and Community Interest: Issues and Perspectives, Inya Eteng notes that ‘the highly exploitative and grossly inequitable endowment/ownership-exchange entitlement relations between the Nigerian state and the oil-bearing communities in particular explain why the enormous oil wealth generated is scarcely reflected in the standard of living and life chances of the peasant inhabitants of the oil-bearing enclave’ (21). A significant dent on the socio-economic life of the Niger Deltans is environmental degradation and is largely the outcome of pollution and the exploitation of natural resources. This perspective of Eteng leads W. Reno to state in his article: Foreign Firms and Financing of Charles Taylor’s NPFI that ‘the exploitation of natural resources has played a prominent part in conflict in Nigeria. Ever since the discovery of oil in 1956, it is estimated that over USD300 billion has been acquired by the Federal Republic of Nigeria from sales of crude oil over forty years of exploration’ (4). Given this enormous capital accumulation, it is expected that the oil bearing communities of whose land oil is extracted from will be more materially prosperous and better off than their ethnic counterparts in the State. But unfortunately, the reverse is the case. For Cyril Obi:
In spite of the overwhelming contribution of the oil minority areas of the Niger Delta to Federal Revenues, they have been excluded from direct access to oil revenues, except through federal and ethnic majority benevolence.
Consequently, the region is one of the least developed and poorest in the Nigerian State. A number of factors accounts for this rather unfortunate fate of oil bearing communities all of which are rooted in historical development of the Nigerian State. The most significant of this factor till date has been the replacement of agriculture by oil, as the basis of capitalist accumulation and State reproduction in Nigeria. (108)
Oyesola in Essentials of Environmental Crisis: The World and Nigeria in Perspective argues that ‘in the wake of the unbridled assault on the Niger Delta environment informed by the dynamic and logic of ecological imperialism, this region’s traditional economies, cultural practices and socio-political wellbeing were mauled into disquiet. The region, which is the economic base of Nigeria, has witnessed one of the uncanny forms of neglect and marginalisation and yet 90% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange comes from oil exploration, exploitation and marketing by the multinational corporations’ (62).
CHAPTER THREE
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Theory plays a huge part in research, or else, every study will stand in isolation. This role sets research as a tool, to provide for powerful abstraction and to enable the development of research links and research networks that can connect and interlink studies. Every theoretical perspective strives to investigate the interrelationship among society. It approaches this immense task by narrowing it, by selecting particular dimension of society, person and behaviour as especially worthy of attention. Theory connects events in a unified web. Nicholas Walliman in Research Methods: The Basics states that:
The term theory is rather imprecise. In research, it refers to a statement that makes claim about a phenomenon. It can range from complex large scale, well researched and substantiated claims developed through academic research, to informal guesses or hunches about specific situations. A theory is a system of ideas based on interrelated concepts, definitions and propositions with the purpose of explaining or predicting phenomenon. (67).
The theory that underpins this research is ecocriticism. The term has a broad domain and has been expressed through many literary genres. The fundamental stand of ecocriticism is that the ideas and structures of desire which govern the interactions between humans and their natural environment are important if we can get a handle on our ecological predicament. Invariably, over-exploitation of natural resources and man’s disregard for air, water and soil that sustains human life have given rise to the question of survival of both man and the environment that inhabits him. Ecocriticism is one the ways in which humanists fight for their habitat. This is because there rising fraustration exacerbated by people’s inability to derive tangible benefits from their God given wealth.
CHAPTER FOUR
TEXTUAL ANALYSES OF THE ACTIVIST AND YELLOW-YELLOW
Ecocriticism is committed to raising awareness of the reading public regarding its responsibility to nature. In analysing Yellow-Yellow and The Activist with the framework adopted by Ann Dobie, what has been relegated or overlooked in the reading of the afore- mentioned texts that can enrich public awareness of human’s impact on the natural world and also treat issues that readers are concerned with are discovered. The issues that will be discussed will border on the negative impact of oil activities on the environment; oil spillage, gas flaring, oil exploiters and their manner of compensations, pipeline vandalism, poverty in the midst of opulence, conflict and migration. These issues are basically what have been neglected in the study of the primary texts that Ann Dobie wants an ecocritic to explore using the theory of ecocritism.
CHAPTER FIVE
TANURE OJAIDE, KAINE AGARY AND THE KEN SARO-WIWA CAUSE
The two authors whose works are analysed are from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. They may be different in terms of their gender and their manner of narration, but both aim to achieve the same thing in their narratives; to show the extent of the rot and decay in their environment, caused not by natural disasters but by the rough handling of their environment by man. They recognise the importance of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s agitation and activism for a better Niger Delta. In Yellow-Yellow, Agary brings to mind the restiveness of youths who drop out of school, while some abandon some miserable jobs that pay them meagre salaries to join the ever growing number of militants. Their restlessness arises from the notion that what should belong to them is being used to develop other parts of the country, and the little they can lay their hands on is either dead or has suddenly disappeared. The narrator puts it thus:
Every young man had visions of dying valiantly for the cause, as Ken Saro- Wiwa just had and as Isaac Adaka Boro had one nearly thirty years before him. The reports were that Ken Saro-Wiwa’s last words on the day of his execution were, ‘Lord, take my soul but the struggle continues’. So the boys wandered about the village aimlessly dropping the phrase Aluta Continua at the slightest provocation. (34)
In The Activist, Ojaide shows how the Activist teams up with Pere Ighogboja to set up an oil bunkering business. They did this to get even with those that have denied them and their families the basic things life has to offer. They also wish to continue working for the cause that Ken Saro-Wiwa died for; justice and equity for the people. The profits made from their bunkering are also used to provide comfort, albeit temporarily to their people. The two authors’ manner of narrative points out to one thing; that the Niger Delta region of Nigeria is ripe for a revolution, and with the way their writings are making wave, the people of the region will one day get the justice they deserve.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
This thesis shows the working of ecocriticism and its attempt to be a descriptive and a revolutionary theory that lends voice to writers who in turn lend their voices to the downtrodden and the subjugated in the society. Oil spillage has led to poverty, death, unemployment, youth restiveness, among those indigenous to the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Thus, peace becomes trifle. The oil companies have not in any way helped matters as they continue to flout environmental regulations in their areas of operations and pay less attention to environmental protection regimes that will help to abate oil pollution. The government on its part has not shown any commitment to enforcing the minimal environmental laws which it created. In the words of Ifeanyi Izuka, ‘while we have right on our side, our adversaries have the big stick, sovereignty with which they can always beat us back into the line’ (276). Onukaogu and Onyerionwu note that ‘the activities of imperialists, corrupt government officials and local chiefs gave rise to militancy, prostitution and all kinds of moral short-comings in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. They note further that ‘…Agary and Ojaide puts the growth and development of the Niger Delta in social focus… That the average Niger Delta Youth is a potential criminal or prostitute implicates a most painful kind of loss in the oil war’ (128). Thus, Agary and Ojaide are not only passionate in portraying the loss of the present but that of the future. They question their situation, living in squalor while barrels of oil are pumped every minute of the day, to provide luxury for the oil workers and the elite of Nigeria. With the working of ecocriticism in the analysis of Yellow-Yellow and The Activist, we will discover that there is no ‘ecohesitation’. Writers are now challenging the status quo; they are not hiding behind their writings to support the evil of the oil exploiters and their constant marginalisation of the people, rather they are arming the people with the tools that will restore their environment to normalcy. Kaine Agary and Tanure Ojaide also shun the notion by some black writers that ecocrtitism as a theory is a dominating discourse issuing from the colonizing West, and it is an ‘attempt to white out the black nation by coloring it green’. (Slaymaker, 268). This they did by providing these narratives that authenticate the usefulness of ecocritism as a literary theory.
What can be deducted from the analyses is that freedom from environmental despoilment and degradation can be attained when victims rid themselves of ecotrauma. Victims must learn to speak out against the constant rape by the oil explorers and exploiters. They can recover but only through the emphatic embrace of their perpetrations and wounds. They must acknowledge their violent histories, grieve out their transgressions, make reparations, and begin the healing process again. This healing process lies with ecoactivism and resistance.
WORKS CITED
- Adelana, S.O. ‘Environmental Pollution and Remediation: Challenges and Management of Oil Spillage in the Nigerian Coastal Areas’. American Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research. 2. 8 (2011): 285. Print.
- Agarwal, H.O. International Law and Human Rights. Allahabad: Central Law publications, 1999. 285. Print.
- Agary, Kaine. Yellow-Yellow. Lagos: Dtalkshop, 2006. Print.
- Akinbode, A. Introduction to Environmental Resource Management. Ibadan: Daybis Publishers, 2002. 2. Print.
- Amuta, Chidi. Towards a Sociology of African Literature. Oguta: Zim Pan, 1986. 39. Print.
- Caminero-Santangelo, Byron. ‘Different Shades of Green: Ecocriticism and African Literature’. African Literature, an Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Olaniyan Tejumola and Ato Quayson. Eds. Oxford: Blackwell publishing, 2007. 705. Print.
- Chukwumah, Ignatius. ‘The Displaced Male Figures in Kaine Agary’s Yellow- Yellow’. Private publishing. n.d.
- Dobie. Ann. From Theory to Practice: An Introduction to Literary Criticism. Boston: Wadworth, 2009. 139-146. Print.
- Ekpu, Ray. ‘The ND Conundrum (2).’ Newswatch Magazine. (2004):10. Print.