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Staging Ecological Crisis in East African Drama: Environmental Degradation, Ancestral Land and Environmental Justice in Austin Bukenya’s A Hole in the Sky
Subject area: Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities · Area of research: Literature in English
DOI: 10.64388/IREV10I4-1724144
Abstract
Environmental degradation remains a major global concern, particularly in regions where communities depend directly on natural resources for livelihood, cultural identity and social well-being. In East Africa, environmental destruction is increasingly associated with resource extraction, deforestation, pollution and development practices that privilege commercial interest over ecological sustainability. Literature provides an important platform for interrogating these challenges because it reveals the social relationships and power structures underlying environmental exploitation. This paper examines the representation of environmental degradation in Austin Bukenya’s A Hole in the Sky (2013), focusing on the relationship between ecological destruction, capitalist development, community displacement and environmental justice. The study is guided by ecocriticism, postcolonial environmental criticism and environmental justice, and adopts a qualitative design based on close textual analysis of the representation of natural resources, characterisation, dramatic conflict and resistance. The discussion demonstrates that Bukenya presents environmental degradation as more than the physical destruction of nature: it is also a social and political problem arising from unequal relationships between commercial interests and local communities. The destruction of Lake Riziki, the clearance of forests, the degradation of streams and the threatened displacement of Kibichi and his family reveal the interconnectedness of ecological sustainability, land rights and community survival. The paper argues that the play challenges narrow understandings of development that privilege financial gain while discounting environmental and social cost, and it contributes to East African literary scholarship by foregrounding the relationship between environmental degradation, ancestral land and environmental justice in the interpretation of the play.
Keywords
ancestral land; East African drama; ecocriticism; environmental degradation; environmental justice; postcolonial ecocriticism
References
[1] Buell L (2005). The future of environmental criticism: Environmental crisis and literary imagination. Blackwell.
[2] Bukenya A (2013). A Hole in the Sky. Oxford University Press.
[3] Bullard RD (2000). Dumping in Dixie: Race, class, and environmental quality (3rd ed.). Westview Press.
[4] Caminero-Santangelo B (2014). Different shades of green: African literature, environmental justice, and political ecology. University of Virginia Press.
[5] Edwin K, Chetambe M, Muhia M (2023). Characterization and presentation of capitalist environmental destruction: A critical reading of Austin Bukenya’s A Hole in the Sky (2013) and Okiya Omtatah’s Voice of the People (2007). East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 6(2), 375–389. https://doi.org/10.37284/eajass.6.2.1632
[6] Glotfelty C, Fromm H (Eds.) (1996). The ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology. University of Georgia Press.
[7] Huggan G, Tiffin H (2015). Postcolonial ecocriticism: Literature, animals, environment (2nd ed.). Routledge.
[8] Murage JN, Rutere AM (2022). Ng’ang’a Mbugua’s Different Colours: A metaphor of environmental activism and deconstruction of patriarchy. Mwanga wa Lugha, 7(1).
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[10] Opondo R, Odongo T (2025). An ecocritical reading of Okot p’Bitek’s “Chameleon and Elephant.” Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, 62(3), 70–78. https://doi.org/10.17159/tl.v62i3.18600
[11] Waithiru AK (2022). An evaluation of environmental symbolism used in children’s literature: Case study of Kijiji Cha Ukame and Mazingira Maridadi. East African Journal of Education Studies, 5(3), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.37284/eajes.5.3.846
How to cite this paper
@article{1724144,
author = {Christine Namayi},
title = {Staging Ecological Crisis in East African Drama: Environmental Degradation, Ancestral Land and Environmental Justice in Austin Bukenya’s A Hole in the Sky},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2026},
volume = {10},
number = {4},
pages = {2919-2938},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1724144.pdf},
abstract = {Environmental degradation remains a major global concern, particularly in regions where communities depend directly on natural resources for livelihood, cultural identity and social well-being. In East Africa, environmental destruction is increasingly associated with resource extraction, deforestation, pollution and development practices that privilege commercial interest over ecological sustainability. Literature provides an important platform for interrogating these challenges because it reveals the social relationships and power structures underlying environmental exploitation. This paper examines the representation of environmental degradation in Austin Bukenya’s A Hole in the Sky (2013), focusing on the relationship between ecological destruction, capitalist development, community displacement and environmental justice. The study is guided by ecocriticism, postcolonial environmental criticism and environmental justice, and adopts a qualitative design based on close textual analysis of the representation of natural resources, characterisation, dramatic conflict and resistance. The discussion demonstrates that Bukenya presents environmental degradation as more than the physical destruction of nature: it is also a social and political problem arising from unequal relationships between commercial interests and local communities. The destruction of Lake Riziki, the clearance of forests, the degradation of streams and the threatened displacement of Kibichi and his family reveal the interconnectedness of ecological sustainability, land rights and community survival. The paper argues that the play challenges narrow understandings of development that privilege financial gain while discounting environmental and social cost, and it contributes to East African literary scholarship by foregrounding the relationship between environmental degradation, ancestral land and environmental justice in the interpretation of the play.},
keywords = {ancestral land; East African drama; ecocriticism; environmental degradation; environmental justice; postcolonial ecocriticism},
month = {October},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV10I4-1724144}
}