Naturalizing Africa: Ecological Violence, Agency, and Postcolonial Resistance in African Literature

224 Pages·2018·1.07 MB·English

by  Cajetan Nwabueze Iheka

“NaturalizingAfricaisanessentialadditiontoenvironmentalstudiesin
Africa.Ihekahasanimpressivecommandoftheinterfacebetweenhuman
communities and non-human ecologies and the way literature can
illuminatesomeofthemostvitalenvironmentalchallengesofourtime.”
RobNixon,CurrieC.andThomasA.BarronFamilyProfessorinthe
HumanitiesandtheEnvironment,PrincetonUniversity
“Throughitsfocusonnon-humanagencyandwhatCajetanIhekacalls
‘the proximity’ of human and non-human actors, Naturalizing Africa
offersaninnovativeapproachtotheroleAfricanliterarystudiescanplay
in addressing environmental degradation and injustice in Africa. It
represents an insightful and significant contribution to literary,
postcolonial,andenvironmentalstudies.”
ByronSantangelo,ProfessorofEnglish,UniversityofKansas
“Cajetan Iheka delivers a beautifully researched referendum on the
EurocentriclimitationsofbothEnlightenmentandpostcolonialthought,
seeking torelocateAfrican ecocriticism and environmental activism in a
primarily indigenous African understanding of the relations of humans
with non-humans. His delineation of an ‘aesthetics of proximity’ as a
means of representing multispecies relationships adds yet another
dimension to the most progressive scholarship in animal studies,
ecocriticism,andthenewmaterialism.”
StephanieLeMenager,MooreEndowedProfessor,DepartmentofEnglish,
UniversityofOregon
“Brilliantly countering the anthropocentrism of much ecocritical
scholarship on African literatures, Cajetan Iheka’s Naturalizing Africa
offers important new interventions into African, postcolonial, and
environmental studies. Through its skillful, expert analyses of literary
representations of ecological crises from across the African continent,
this book also contributes significantly to envisioning alternative,
sustainableecosystems.”
KarenL.Thornber,ProfessorofComparativeLiterature,HarvardUniversity
“Cajetan Iheka’s Naturalizing Africa is an eloquent, theoretically
sophisticated contribution to the growing body of ecocritical work
engaged with the Global South. This book vividly illuminates the
culturalcausesofandresponsestoAfrica’senvironmentalcrises,using
carefullychosenexamplesfromvarioussub-Saharanregions.”
ScottSlovic,ProfessorofEnglish,UniversityofIdahoandcoeditorofEcocritical
Aesthetics:Language,Beauty,andtheEnvironmentandEcocriticism
oftheGlobalSouth
“Iheka’sNaturalizingAfricaisabookthatisuncannyinitsprescience.
Synthesizingarangeofdebatesinenvironmental,animal,andAfrican
literarystudies,itnotonlyelaboratesthegroundsofcurrentdebatesin
thesefieldsbutalsoilluminatesapathwayforwhatistocome.Thisis
goingtobeoftremendousinfluenceforaverylongtime.”
AtoQuayson,ProfessorandDirectoroftheCentreforDiaspora
andTransnationalStudies,UniversityofToronto

Naturalizing Africa
TheproblemofenvironmentaldegradationontheAfricancontinent
is a severe one. In this book, Cajetan Iheka analyzes how African
literary texts have engaged with pressing ecological problems in
Africa, including the Niger Delta oil pollution in Nigeria, ecologies
ofwarinSomalia,andanimalabusesacrossthecontinent.Analyzing
narratives by important African writers such as Amos Tutuola,
WangariMaathai,J.M.Coetzee,BessieHead,andBenOkri,Iheka
challengesthetendencytofocusprimarilyonhumansintheconcep-
tualization of environmental problems and instead focuses on how
Africanliteraturedemonstratestheinterconnectionand“proximity”
ofhumanandnonhumanbeings.Ihekaproposesarevisionoftheidea
ofagencybasedonhumanintentionalityinAfricanliterarycriticism
and postcolonial studies. He argues that the narratives yoke the
exploitation of Africans to the despoliation of the environment and
recommend responsibility toward human and nonhuman beings as
crucialforecologicalsustainabilityandaddressingclimatechange.
CajetanIhekaisanassistantprofessorofEnglish,specializinginAfrican
and Postcolonial Literatures, at the University of Alabama. He is an
editor for African Studies Review, the journal of the African Studies
Association.

Naturalizing Africa
Ecological Violence, Agency, and Postcolonial
Resistance in African Literature
Cajetan Iheka
UniversityofAlabama
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107199170
DOI:10.1017/9781108183123
©CajetanIheka2018
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Firstpublished2018
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AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Iheka,CajetanNwabueze,author.
Title:NaturalizingAfrica:ecologicalviolence,agencyandpostcolonial
resistanceinAfricanliterature/CajetanNwabuezeIheka.
Description:NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,2017.|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2017030487|ISBN9781107199170(alk.paper)|
ISBN1107199174(alk.paper)
Subjects:LCSH:Ecocriticism.|Ecocriticisminliterature.|Postcolonialism
inliterature.|Human-animalrelationships–Africa.|Human-plant
relationships–Africa.|Humanbeings–Effectofenvironmenton–Africa.|
Nature–Effectofhumanbeingson–Africa.|Humanecology–Africa.|
Humanecologyinliterature.|Violence–Environmentalaspects–Africa.|
War–Environmentalaspects–Africa.
Classification:LCCPN98.E36I372017|DDC809.933553–dc23
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For Keji,
Kamsi,
and the unborn
My Loves, ndi o ga diri mma

Contents
Acknowledgments pagex
Introduction:NaturalizingAfrica 1
1 AfricanLiteratureandtheAestheticsofProximity 21
2 BeyondHumanAgency:NuruddinFarahandSomalia’s
EcologiesofWar 57
3 RethinkingPostcolonialResistance:TheNigerDelta
Example 85
4 ResistancefromtheGround:Agriculture,Gender,and
ManualLabor 126
Epilogue:RehabilitatingtheHuman 158
Notes 167
WorksCited 193
Index 207
ix