Morton’s Thought and Ecological Crisis in Selected Niger Delta Novels

Abstract

Much of the existing critical works on the Niger Delta literary oeuvre concern themselves with the extent of destruction to which the ecosystem has been subjected, the concomitant violent resistance, and their impacts on the survival of the people of the region. While these efforts are commendable, they do not offer lasting solutions to the ecological crisis for which the region has become infamous. As a deviation from this critical tradition, this paper attempts to show the root causes of the ecological crisis in the Niger Delta region as well as how to bring the crisis under control. To do this, three novels – Isidore Okpewho’s Tides, Helon Habila’s Oil on Water and Christie Watson’s Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away were studied using Timothy Morton’s concept of The Ecological Thought which anthropomorphizes the ecosystem in a bid to avert the destructive activities of both the resisters and the oil explorers. The paper concludes that when humans fully understand the interconnectedness and radical intimacy that exist between them and other “beings” in nature, ecological equilibrium will be easily achieved.