A LITERARY ANALYSIS OF FEMINIST ECO-ACTIVISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS IN SELECTED NIGER DELTA NOVELS

Abstract

Environmental degradation remains the most potent threat to the people, most especially women in the Niger Delta. This has led women to be at the forefront for the struggle for the preservation of the environment because of their deeper affinity with the natural environment and the metaphoric link between women and the natural environment. Various studies on the impact of environmental crisis in the Niger Delta have portrayed women as victims of such crisis without attention to the efforts of women in the struggle to preserve and restore the natural environment. This study, therefore, addresses this gap and investigates the role of women in eco-activism to highlight women's efforts in the preservation of the Niger Delta environment. According to Carole Boyce Davies' 'The social and historical realities of African women's lives must be considered in any meaningful examination of women in African literature' (561). To this end, African feminism becomes a fitting theoretical framework for this paper. As a brand of feminism, this theoretical school of thought combines African concerns with world-wide feminist concerns. African feminism places emphasis on nature over culture. Ecofeminism is applied in the textual analysis of two selected literary texts. It is an eco-critical model whose theme is a link between domination of nature and that of women, and women are urged to take responsibility to end domination over both. Vincent Egbuson's Love My Planet and May Ifeoma Nwoye's Oil Cemetery are purposely selected owing to how deeply they expose environmental degradation in the region, while capturing vividly the roles played by women in the struggle to preserve the natural environment of the Niger Delta. The texts were subjected to critical literary analysis. The study concludes that women are not just victims of an environmental crisis. They play significant roles in the struggle to preserve the environment of the Niger Delta in the two novels. Women have transcended from docility and emotional entrapment to resilience in the struggle to restore the degraded environment.