Kamau Brathwaite’s Environmental Sensibilities: An Ecocritical Reading of Born to Slow Horses

Abstract

Postcolonial writers have taken time to explore the consequences of imperial expansion and colonialism on the environmental conditions of the erstwhile colonies. The impacts of postcolonial destruction are felt mostly in all the Caribbean Islands, which were built on plantation and land exploitation. These factors make Caribbean ecologies an area of interest to creative writers and critics from the region. While writers like Harris and Walcott have attracted praise for concentrating on Caribbean ecologies, little or no interest has been paid to Brathwaite’s works in this direction. The pertinent question is: is it possible for a writer of Brathwaite’s knowledge of Caribbean history to omit such an important theme in his works, as the history of this region is hardly separable from its environment? This paper is an ecocritical reading of selected poetry from Brathwaite’s collection Born to Slow Horses (2005). Three poems in the collection, “The Master of Mary Jones,” “Guanahani,” “Namsetura,” and “9/11” were purposively sampled and examined. The poems were subjected to contextual analysis with the intent to foreground the poet’s concerns with nature and the environment. Brathwaite internationalizes his vision and treats the damaging effects of colonial and imperial activities around the world in continents far away from his Caribbean. The study reveals that Brathwaite’s vision is internationalized and that the damaging effects of human interactions with the environment become a global concern. This paper concludes that Brathwaite, like other Caribbean poets, focuses on Caribbean and world ecology in his works. It is therefore recommended that Brathwaite’s poetry, which is open to ecological themes, be explored further beyond those examined in this study. Critics should concentrate more on this theme while appreciating these works.