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

Kaine Agary's Ecofeminist Take on Environmental Injustice in the Niger River Delta

By Emma Klitzke
 

...for many in other lands had never seen my portrait,
neither of when I was paradise
nor now as I lay dejected;
they only knew of the treasure found in me.

-Kaine Agary, speaking for the Niger Delta in "My Blessing, My Curse" (153)


Kaine Agary, a native Nigerian, has devoted much of her life to writing about the Niger River Delta and the struggles that Nigeria has faced because of the oil boom. In her essay, "My Blessing, My Curse," she uses a woman's perspective to highlight the injustices that the people of Nigeria have faced since the struggle for oil began in the country.

"My Blessing, My Curse" reads much like "Lament" by Debra Marquart, a poem about the oil boom in North Dakota. Both works discuss the way in which the struggle for oil tears apart the beautiful land that encases the resource, and both works draw emotional response in their readers by comparing the devastated land to a woman. Agary's essay is narrated by the personified country of Nigeria herself, using human concepts to illustrate the country's beauty (and fated destruction). In the beginning, Nigeria describes herself as paradise: Her head is covered in "great bunches of plantain;" her legs "[stand] long and strong, the healthiest of rubber trees;" and "between [her] legs [is] a secret treasure," the oil for which the Western world longs and strives (152). In a turn of events, Nigeria gets trapped in a marriage to a "white lover" who plans to use her for the precious treasure she keeps secret. Before long even her sons, native Nigerians, with "eyes...devoid of compassion," are using their own mother for wealth and power (153). The essay ends in despair, and a cry for help.

The comparison of Nigeria to a woman is persuasive and emotional. It strikes the hearts of everyone because, regardless of ethnicity or economic wellbeing, everyone has a mother. The essay reaches out to the people of Nigeria, especially to the long-suffering Ken Saro-Wiwa supporters who face roadblocks and hardship every day of their lives, and it shows them that they aren't fighting alone.

Agary's novel, Yellow-Yellow, is the narrative of a young Nigerian woman, Zilayefa, whose village home is destroyed by an oil spill. Inspired by those who'd found a better life before her, she relocates to Port Harcourt, a bustling city with opportunities around every corner. But these opportunities only accentuate the reality of Nigeria's situation: The oil companies virtually rule this once beautiful, independent country. Not only do the companies effectively support Nigeria's economy, but they also supply the best jobs; so in order to live a prosperous life in Nigeria, one's best option is to keep feeding the corrupt businesses that are destroying their country in the first place. The irony is heartbreaking.

If we recall the concept of the "white lover" from My Blessing, My Curse, we can see how this same idea plays a role in Yellow-Yellow. We first see it in the form of Zilayefa's absent father, a Greek sailor who visits an Ijaw village for just long enough to impregnate a young, dark-skinned Nigerian woman before he leaves without a trace. Zilayefa is only half Nigerian, making her skin much paler than most of her friends and acquaintances (thus the nickname, Yellow-Yellow). This is the first presence of the "white lover" in Zilayefa's life, and as she grows up and her life begins to form around her, more and more white lovers present themselves. Her first kiss is with a much older white man from Spain, who, like her father to her mother, shows her a great time for two nights and then disappears with no warning. Each white lover to enter Zilayefa's life tempts her with love and companionship, only to take it away unceremoniously, along with her heart. These lovers can be seen not just as plot devices, but also as literary representations of the Western world exploiting third world countries for their precious resources.

Agary wants her readers to see the effects of the Westerners who exploit poorer countries in order to improve their own lives, and she shows this by writing about the exploitation of women. This feminist approach brings the injustices that Nigeria faces into a new, fresh light, connecting to readers not just in the second or third world, but in the Western world as well. Western oil consumers can draw a connection between the "white lover" and themselves; because of our desire for faster, wealthier, better lives, we've lost track of the wellbeing of the land that gave us this resource, not to mention the wildlife and people that still live there. It forces the Western reader to see Nigeria not as foreign and unimportant, but as a real place with real people, and real, irreversible damage.


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