Niger Delta Black Gold Blues: Can Writers Bring About Environmental Justice Where Slow Violence Has Proven So Devastating? or A Cautionary Tale for Environmental Sacrifice Zones Worldwide

Pre-colonial History: Ecological Diversity and Local Autonomy

by Maddie and Ashley

In the beginning . . . the Niger Delta area blossomed with the diversity that only an unmolested land could know. Here this land ran free enlightening the many different spirits that call the Western, Central, and Southern regions of Africa home. In particular, Mami Wata's presence as a water spirit impacts the numerous indigenous groups of the area. When taking a look at this water spirit in relation to a tribe, day in and day out the Ogoni people revere the goddess by not only respecting the land and water but also attempting to understand the elements. By recognizing Mami Wata as a deity of dynamic natures, both good and angry, so is there an understanding of how water can be both calm and thrashing. Understanding how the Niger River Delta once was unscathed and free from colonized influence helps us consider the question of how outside powers have impacted the area: for better or for worse?

This land of the spirits ranges with ecological diversity. As Campbellsville University Professor Sunny Onyiri reports, The Niger Delta is made up of four ecological zones. These zones are coastal barrier islands, mangrove swamp forests, freshwater swamps, and lowland rain forests. With the high concentration of biodiversity in this ecosystem, the delta thrived when it comes to flora, fauna, crops, trees, and freshwater fish (107-108). Such a vast variety of habitat contributes to the stigma of exoticism Europeans have imagined since the dawn of time. The temptations to explore and exploit the unknown drew in outside powers, developing the long history of colonial extraction that most regions of Africa have come to know. Prior to oil drilling taking place in the Niger Delta, the people of the land were able to rely on their resources.

As Onyiri reports, the population of the delta today makes up more than 23% of Nigeria's total population. This 23%  is estimated to be a population of 30 million. The Niger delta region was redefined in the year 2000 to include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo, Imo, Ijaw, Igbo, and Ondo (108).

The Ogoni people, one of 40 ethnic groups of the region (Onyiri 108), for example, that they have lived on their current land for hundreds of years (Salmons 424). In her study of "The Role of Mammy Wata as an Age" nt for the Promotion of Ogoni National Identity," art historian Jill Salmons reports that Ogoni culture has an emphasis on the training of warriors. Here these warriors are created to serve the beloved spirit Mami Wata (425). Protecting what Mami Wata represents is a one of the duties of these warriors. Strong relationships with the spirits are important in a number of ways. Members of the community take up roles as priest or priestesses, those with a deep connection to the other world (Salmons 430). Salmons describes how spritual mediums are known "for their advice as commanders and crucial intermediaries between spirit and human world" (425).


Ogoni artwork: "Elu Mask"

Salmons goes on to report that the Ogoni chiefs describe their external and internal wars as a great importance. Traditions are in the form of festivals and primarily pertain to warfare. Young Ogoni men are encouraged to go through initiation into Yaa, Be, or Dogo (depending on origin in Ogoniland), which is warrior initiation. They go through military training and learn to use the kobege, which is a knife, as a weapon of war. Once they display these skills for the public they are seen to be warriors and leaders of each generation displaying discipline and bravery. This initiation still takes place present day (Salmons 425). These values of the Ogoni people speak loudly towards the dynamic, fierce group they have based their foundations on.


PRE MEETS COLONIAL:
After generations of independence and a culture brewed within, Nigeria was not left alone. Wandering Europeans seeking the riches along the coasts of Africa could provide washed upon the Nigerian coast in hopes of treasure. Treasure indeed they did find: a land rich with flowing rivers, minerals, and exotic animals enlightened the foreigners. It was from this time in history that a new, darker chapter of history was written. Long gone were the days of tribal independence with land and water free from contamination. Enslavement, expanding trade, and environmental destruction became the new chapter the Niger River Delta would know after European contact. And the history of Mami Water evolves in response to these new arrivals. According to the 2008 Fowler/ 2009 Smithsonian art exhibition called Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and its Diasporas,

"Mami Wata's presence is pervasive partly because she can bring good fortune in the form of money. As a 'capitalist' deity par excellence, her persona developed between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries, the era of growing trade between Africa and the rest of the world. Her very name, which may be translated as 'Mother Water,' is pidgin English, a language developed to facilitate trade."  (Drewal)

CONNECTIONs TO OIL SPILL BEYOND CONTEXTUAL SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE:
​In correlation with the upcoming tragedies of the oil spill in the Niger River, the Ogoni people's economical basis took a spill as well. Worgu Stanley Owabukeruyele documents how with the environmental damage caused by hydrocarbon extraction has devasted traditional subsistence practices of fishing and farming. Yet, even with all of these changes, as Salmon observes, Mammy Wata imagery continues to inspire Ogoni protesters as they carry on the warrior traditions in the nonviolent tradition of Ken Saro-Wiwa (432-33). 


Works Cited

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