AN ECOCRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED AFRICAN TEXTS: A CASE

STUDY OF MAY IFEOMA NWOYE’s “OIL CEMETRY” AND CHIMEKA

GARRICK’s “TOMORROW DIED YESTESDAY”.

(B.A. PROPOSAL)

BY

ADELEKE MARAYAM DAMILOLA

14/15CD026

A PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF

ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, FACULTY OF ARTS,
UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORIN KWARA STATE.
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE RECQUIREMENT FOR
THE AWARD OF BACHELOR OF ART (B.A) DEGREE IN
ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES.

SUPERVISOR: DR (F. R. ALIYU)

AUGUST, 2017.
INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background To The Study

Beyond the general appreciation of literature as a field of study lies its purposiveness as a
veritable tool to attain social justice and positive change. This assertion reinforces a
functional description of literature as a mirror through which the goings on in society is
depicted.
Furthermore, the selected texts of May Ifeoma Nwoye’s “oil cemetry” and chiemeka
garrick’s “Tomorrow Died Yesterday’’ aptly describe the interaction between man and his
physical environment along with its attendant implications. The narratives in the selected
texts are suggestive of a shift in focus of African writers from popular themes such as
colonialism, post- colonialism, neo- colonialism, underdevelopment, bribery and corruption
etcetera, to germane concerns that involve environmental degradation and exploitation of
human and natural resources.
It is within this context Glotfelty posited that “in recent times, natural disaster have not
only compelled human societies to re-appraise the significance of nature for human survival
but also led to realisation that any harmful human action against nature will yield destructive
consequences for humanity.” Conversely however, is the contrast to Glotfelty’s assertion In
that the environment now suffers untold disconfiguration by virtue of man’s interference
wisth its natural composition.
By necessary implication, nature has become endangered a result of modernity and
advancement in industrialization. One of the ways of displaying the tools of literature towards
exposing the danger, the activities of human portend to the environment, as well as their
negative impacts, is the concept of eco-criticism. The rationale behind this assertion is the
fact that eco-criticism constructively serves as a bridge between literary criticism and issues
of ecological dimensions.
In his work titled “literature and ecology: An experiment in Eco criticism” William
Reucket describe Eco criticism as the application of ecological concepts to the study of
literature. He further adduces the reason for his proposition by stating that “ecology ( as a
science, as a discipline, as the basis for human vision) has the greatest relevance to the
present and future of the world”. Thus, the selected prose of May Ifeoma Nwoye’s “oil
cemetry” and chiemeka Garrick’s “Tomorrow died Yesterday” are exactitude of eco critical
approach utilized as a tool to appraise the unwholesome environmental challenges in the
Niger Delta: the south-south of Nigeria.
As aptly captured by Bhagwati and Mittleman, “Nature is endangered and the
exploitation of the natural resources for the free market globally contributes to the destruction
of the natural world, especially of periphery nations”. “It is the instructive to state that the
 noun phrase “periphery nations” is synonymous with ‘developing nations like Nigeria,
Ghana, Kenya, etc. and under developed country like Somalia, Somaliland Haiti, et al.
Unfortunately, Multinational corporations, the government, and their agents are
allegedly major culprits of the environmental degradation and social injustice in the text
under review. The narratives in the text under studied are an expose on the harmonious
interaction that existed between and his physical environment. Before the discovery of oil in
the Niger Delta through works of friction, illusions abound in the text as regards their
correlation to the current harsh realities confronting the aborigines of the Niger Delta as the
case study of this research.
From an eco-critical perspective, the texts reveal a gross decimation of flora, fauna and
landscape in the Niger Delta. Exploratory activities of oil companies are portrayed as harmful
and devastating to what Tim Morton (2010) refers to as “strange strangers” (aquatic life and
wild life). The plot sequence in May Ifeoma Nwoye’s “oil cemetry” typifies the gradual
eroding of cultural heritage, values, custom and traditions viz-a-viz its negative impact on the
ecosystem. Rob Nixon (2011) describes thus scenario as ‘slow violence’, According to him,
“slow violence is a violence that occurs gradually and out of sight, a violence of delayed
destruction that is dispersed across time and space, an attritional violence that is typically not
viewed as a violence at all’’.

It is against this backdrop this study seeks to deploy eco critical approach to evaluate the
selected Nigerian prose, with a view to expanding the frontiers of Eco criticism as a dominant
theme in literary studies in Nigeria in particular, and the world in general.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

It is trite knowledge across the globe that Mother Nature is in a state of peril as a result of the
negative impact of man’s exploratory activities on natural and unnatural resources. Therefore, an
Eco critical analysis of the selected texts reveals that Nigeria is in dire straits as brought about by
the tripartite conspiracy involving the government, multinational corporations and their cronies
against the environment. An in depth analysis of the selected texts also reveals a nexus between
environmental degradation and ethnic militia and general restiveness in the Niger Delta.

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the Study.

The purpose of literature to the sustenance of humanity and the environment cannot be
overemphasized. Thus, the general aim of the study is to demonstrate the essence of prose to
environmental discourses in Nigeria. The specific objective of the study is to;
 1) Espouse the usefulness of Eco criticism as an effective tool for literary evaluation with
regard the environment.
2) Show the nexus between literature and environmental discourse as a reflection of the
current realities in Nigeria.
3) Establish through eco critical analysis of the selected texts, tripartite conspiracy of
multinational corporations, the government and their cronies are directly responsible for
issues such as environmental degradation, ethnic militia and social injustice in the Niger
Delta.

1.3 Justification/ Significance of the Study.

This study upholds the view that the thought provoking theme in the selected texts is
situationally relevant to the current realities in Nigeria. The choice of May Ifeoma Nwoye’s “oil
cemetry” and Chiemeka Garrick’s “Tomorrow Died yesterday” help in closing the gap of existing
literatures on Eco-criticism in Nigeria. Thus, this study is intended to contribute to existing
knowledge and literatures on Eco criticism.

1.4 Scope of the Study.

From an Eco critical point of view, the selected texts contain adequate information in
explaining the phenomena of biodiversity, environmental degradation, restiveness and social
injustices in Nigeria. Most instructive is their compliance with the principles of Eco criticism to
show the devastating effects of oil exploration on the Nigerian ecology.

1.5 Research Methodology

Based on the peculiar nature of the subject matter of this study, the qualitative research method
is considered most suitable to the in depth analysis of primary data in May Ifeoma Nwoye’s ‘’Oil
Cemetry’’ and Chiemeka Garrick’s “Tomorrow Died Yesterday” with Eco-criticism as its
analytical framework.

Furthermore, since Eco criticism is by default, an inter-disciplinary endeavour, this study

intends to adopt same in order to explain the complexities of the ecological questions in the Niger
Delta by necessary implication therefore, an academic voyage will be embarked upon into other
closely related fields of study for the clarity of purpose.
1.6 Tentative Bibliography

-Primary Sources

Garrick’s Chiemeka “Tomorrow Died Yesterday’’ Abuya; Paperworth Books. Limited,

2010.Revised, 2014. Print.

Nwoye, Ifeoma. “Oil Cemetry” Lagos; Parresia Press.2015.Print.

-Secondary sources;

Bhagwati, Jagdish. “The Case for Free Trade” scientific American Journal 5 (42-43)1993.

Glotfelty, Cheryll and Harold Fromm. Ed. The Eco-criticism Readers: Landmarks in literary

Ecology. Athens; U of Georgia P, 1996.

Mittleman, J. “Globalisation and Environmental Resistance politics’’. JSTOR. Third World

Quarterly, Vol. 19, NO 5, Dec. (1998); 847.

Morton, Timothy. The Ecological Thought. Cambridge; Harvard University Press,2010.

Nixon, Rob, “Slow Violence and the Environment of the Poor, Cambridge, M.A; Harvard

UP, 2011.

Ruecket, William. “Literature and Ecology; An Experiment in Eco-criticism” The Eco-

Criticism Reader; Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harvard Fromm.

Athens: University of Georgia P, 1999.