Ecological Violence: A Critical Perusal on Buchi Emecheta’s Second- Class Citizen and The Joys of Motherhood

Abstract

This paper is an endeavor to adumbrate a comprehensive view of African Environmentalism embedded in Buchi Emecheta’s two trailblazing novels- Second-Class Citizen (1975) and The Joys of Motherhood (1979). The two novels, if minutely construed, would enable the readers to comprehend the linchpin of the ecological violence. Albeit Emecheta foregrounds the motherhood in the novels, she deliberately presents the violence of the ecology of Nigeria, providing the readers with a broader perspective of kincentric connection, impact of colonialism/neo-colonialism and colonial demands of modernization. Within the rubric of Africana Feminism and Motherism, Emecheta has been adroit in postulating the Environment of the poor, subverting the concept of pristine nature and concentrating on Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) pulverized by the wheels of globalization, colonialism and/or neo-colonialism. Two protagonists of both the novels are faced with wave of obligations coercing them to be tormented not only by racial, class and gender differences but by the impact of the ecological violence. The focus of the paper is to re-present these two novels within the purview of African environmental literature by demonstrating the characters and their social, cultural and economic milieu.