The Other Side of a Polluted Coin: White Expatriates in Watson’s Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away

Abstract

This study investigates the portrayal of white expatriates in Christie Waston’s Tiny Sunbirds, FarAway. Waston, a British writer, interestingly in her novel, Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away, delves intothe onerous task of retelling the Niger Delta travails, unarguably, from the lenses of an outsiderpatriotic and brave enough to tell her side of the disheartening oil exploitation story. The imagesof white expatriates in Nigerian literature vis-à-vis Niger Delta concerns are almost stereotyped.These expatriate oil workers are recreated as predators that laid siege over the entire regionfeeding on the impoverished and vulnerable Niger Delta women. These expatriates, aware of thepoverty in the region, prey on the Niger Delta girls who are seeking nothing but love, comfort,survival, and some sense of humanity. Against this backdrop, the study argues that Waston, inher novel, reconstructs the images of the white expatriates obviously in her bid to challengestereotypes. With the character of Dan, who is everything the male Niger Deltans undoubtedlyare not, the paper surmises that Waston succeeds in presenting another side of the expatriatestory which begs for further studies and insights regarding the activities of the white expatriatesand the Niger Delta women amidst the madness of oil exploitation, pollution, and devastation.