Reclaiming Independence, Pumping Oil, and Exporting Nigerian literature
Reclaiming Independence
According to a lengthy section on History World on "History of Nigeria", Great Britain, the massive political power that has ruled many other countries throughout history, held control over Nigeria from 1900 to 1960. During this time frame, Nigeria was forced to rename multiple regions of their own country with Britain's authorization. The country divided itself into Northern, Eastern, and Western regions and each had their own house of assembly. Yet, even though the massive British Empire had lots of power, they would not be able to hold on to Nigeria for long. Nigeria gained more and more leaders from their own country and through the rebelling power of the leaders, Nigeria gained freedom from Britain.
Independence, however, would not be smooth sailing for the country. Multiple leaders meant multiple pulls for leadership of the entire country, which would soon lead to violent unrest. The Northern and Western prime ministers were quickly assassinated and Nigeria was forced into twelve states. As the violence came to a head, a senior Ibo officer of the Eastern region, Obumegwu Ojukwu, declared the Eastern region of Nigeria as an independent nation. After the declaration, the violence erupts into civil war that quickly takes it's toll. By 1970, the citizens of Nigeria are starving and the Eastern region of Nigeria is rejoined with the rest of the country.
Pumping Oil
Continuing with information from the section on History World, Nigeria is known for it's large abundances of oil. Industries flock to the land, drilling first palm oil and now petroleum and, ten years after Nigeria's independence from Britain, the "output is more than two million barrels a day, the value of which is boosted by the high prices achieved during the oil crisis of 1973-4" (History of Nigeria). After the oil prices drop, however, the country suffers and economic disaster as the average income per head drops from 75% or 1000 dollars a year to 250. According to a informational excerpt from the Environmental Justice Atlas, in which you can find the main site here some of the more well known oil companies currently within the Niger Delta include Royal Dutch Shell from the Netherlands, the Chevron Corporation from the United States of America and Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited from Nigeria (Cite EJA). What else to put here? Hmmm.... [you don't need to take this history much further, but you could put some emphasis on which companies are involved in the oil drilling and who is benefitting--is it the colonial powers, the Nigerian leaders, the local leaders, the people who benefit? How are international consumers complicit in this extractive history?]
Exporting Nigerian Literature [an introductory statement here about how Nigerian literature comes on the international and national scene at the time of independence and the discovery of oil wealth. How is the literature both a celebration of cultural independence and the decolonization of the Nigerian mind, on the one hand, but also a warning of the threat of conflict within as well as meddling by neocolonial elites and corporations, on the other? Jennifer Wenzel's article in Oil Culture and a review of Rob Nixon's "Pipe Dreams" will be helpful.]
Chinua Achebe (Albert Chinualumogu Achebe)
Taken from the online version of the well known Encyclopedia Britannica, Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist who was "acclaimed for his unsentimental depictions of the social and psychological disorientation accompanying the imposition of Western customs and values upon traditional African society" (Britannica). His first novel, and quite possibly his most well known, was Things Fall Apart in 1958. The novel looks into the life of Okonkwo, an Igbo community leader and addresses the colonial government that is controlling the Igbo societies. His influential works continued with No Longer At Ease (1960), a sequel to Things Fall Apart, and Arrow of God (1964), which tells the story of a chief priest in the 1920s whose son becomes a Christian under British rule. [emphasize the significance of this work for understanding Nigerian history and literature in relation to our postcolonial ecocritical concerns about the Niger Delta]
Wole Soyinka
Also taken from the online version of Britannica, Wole Soyinka, Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka, is a Nigerian playwright who was granted with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He graduated from the University of Leeds in England before moving back to Nigeria to write A Dance of the Forests (1963) which looks at showing how the present Nigeria is no more glorious than what the past Nigeria was. He has participated in many groups including the National Democratic Organization and the National Liberation Council of Nigeria.
[Wrap up this section by connecting the three threads--independence, oil, and early post-colonial Nigerian literature--in preparation fro the next section in the history. A review of Nixon's chapter we read early on will enrich your argument.]
Resources used on this page:
"Chinua Achebe." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Ed. The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.
"HISTORY OF NIGERIA." HISTORY OF NIGERIA. History World, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Wole Soyinka." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.
