Current Volume 8
Pollution Images: An Eco-Critical Perspective On Environmental Degradation in Niger Delta Poetry
Abstract
The Niger Delta, a region where the earth bleeds crude and the rivers sigh beneath a weight of unspeakable filth, stands as a testament to the greedy machinations of oil imperialism and the silent complicity of political overlords. This paper interrogates the imagery of pollution in Niger Delta poetry, exploring how poets transmute the horrors of ecological ruin into verses that resist, remember, and reclaim. Drawing on the works of Tanure Ojaide, Nnimmo Bassey, Ogaga Ifowodo, and Ibiwari Ikiriko, this study employs eco-criticism, postcolonial theory, and environmental justice discourse to analyze how oil spills, gas flares, and poisoned waters become metaphors of corporate violence, cultural erasure, and neocolonial subjugation. The theoretical framework is anchored in the scholarship of Serpil Oppermann, Rob Nixon, Elizabeth DeLoughrey, Cajetan Iheka, and Jennifer Wenzel, who collectively illuminate the ways in which ecological degradation functions as both a physical and epistemic assault on indigenous communities. Niger Delta poetry is not merely a lament; it is a literary insurrection, a form of insurgent eco-poetics that refuses to let history be swallowed by the oil-stained tide of forgetfulness.
Citations
IRE Journals:
Fortune Saloka Nyimeobari
"Pollution Images: An Eco-Critical Perspective On Environmental Degradation in Niger Delta Poetry" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 8 Issue 12 2025 Page 284-294
IEEE:
Fortune Saloka Nyimeobari
"Pollution Images: An Eco-Critical Perspective On Environmental Degradation in Niger Delta Poetry" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 8(12)
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