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

Environmental History of the Niger Delta and its People

Rich in ecological and cultural diversity, the people of the Niger River Delta had hoped that postcolonial independence would help them shed the legacy of slavery, resource extraction, and economic dependence. Despite lucrative oil contracts and a proliferation of postcolonial Nigerian literature, however, civil war, corporate negligence, and neocolonial corruption have degraded the Niger Delta waters and landscape and left the Delta's micro-minorities with little recourse but to protest. When Ken Saro-Wiwa and his Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) gained international attention for the movement and the writers of the Delta in the 1990s, hope again seemed possible. Twenty years later, however, the slow violence of extraction and neglect have continued. How do we now respond to the injustices that have turned the Delta into an environmental sacrifice zone? First, we need some context to understand what has happened in this part of Nigeria.  

 

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