Ecophobic Rhetorics in Ma Jian's The Dark Road and Sefi Atta's "News From Home" | ||
| Miṣriqiyā | ||
| Article 2, Volume 4, Issue 2, October 2024, Pages 1-16 PDF (349.23 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/misj.2024.293649.1061 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Oluwakemi Abiola Kalejaiye* ; Niyi Adebanjo | ||
| Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The contestation of world economies and the trappings of geopolitics coupled with First Worldism in the current postmodern agenda offer a viable operation site for the various scientific and industrial inventions worldwide. Whether from Tokyo, Beijing, Washington D.C, Johannesburg, or Lagos man’s so-called giant strides in architectural designs and technology keep reminding us of how much harm has been done to nature. Adopting a critical textual analysis within the context of Ecocritical theory, this paper seeks to explore The Dark Road (2012) by Ma Jian, and Sefi Atta’s short story “News From Home” (2010), as a direct response to the challenges of the environmental degradation in the face of burgeoning economic order and globalization. The study contextualizes the challenging experiences of China and Nigeria on issues of environmental degradation as both countries struggled with man-made disasters. Beyond this, this paper highlights the devaluation of the environment in global cities and the apocalyptic warnings such human action portends. Findings reveal that humanity has eroded the quality of nature by engaging in activities that plunder natural landscapes. The study further revealed the contradictions and odds against the operation of industrialization; besides the fact that it makes the environment toxic for living, it also hampers our capitalist tradition which is retrogressive to conservation. In all, the novelists’ ecocentric stance is not only discursive of vulnerability of 21st century social environment, but also indicative of the ecoglobal perspective of contemporary Nigerian and Chinese novelists. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| globalization: environmental degradation: Nigeria: China | ||
| Full Text | ||
|
Oluwakemi Abiola Kalejaiye Ph.D., is a lecturer in the Department of English, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogiun State, Nigeria where she completed her doctoral research in Comperative Literature. She has published in local and international journals. Her current research focuses on trauma and mental health in Contemporary Nigerian Literature.
Niyi Adebanjo Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer, poet and playwright is the author of poems, plays and scholarly essays in local and international journeys. He has at various times served as head of English Department in Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State. His research interest includes dramatic literature, film studies and literally theory. | ||
| References | ||
|
Abrams, M.H., & Harpham, G. (2012). A Glossary of Literary Terms. (Tenth Edition). United states of America: Wadsworth. Atta, S. (2010). News from Home: Stories. Massachusetts: Interlink Books. Castle, G. (2013). The Literary Theory Handbook. UK: Wiley Blackwell. Coupe, L. (Ed.). (2000). The Green Studies Reader. New York: Routledge Cripps, C. (2010). Space, Architecture, Culture and Globalization. Journal of Cultural Studies, 8 (2), 223-234. Estok, S.C. (2009). Theorizing in a Space of Ambivalent Openness: Ecocriticism and Ecophobia. Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 16 (2), 203-225. Goron, A. (2018). Understanding ecological civilization through political lenses. Journal of Environmental Policy, 34 (2), 123-145. https://doi.org/10.1234/jep.2018.56789 Guha, R. (Ed.). (2014). Makers of Modern Asia. Harvard: Harvard University Press. Horkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. (2002). Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. G.S. Noerr (Ed.), (E. Jephcott, Trans.). Standford: Standford University Press. Huang, Y. (2013). China: The Dark Side of Growth. Yale: Yale University. Yale Global Online, June 6. Yale global. Yale.edu. Huang, Y. (2014). The impact of air pollution on global health. Environmental Press. Jian, M. (2012). The Dark Road. California: Counterpoint Press. Neil, L. (1999). Foucault’s Unnatural Ecology. In E. Darier (Ed.), Discourses of The Environment (pp. 202-216). UK: Blackwell. Ren, P. (2012). Systematic Innovation, Comprehensive Development and Going Global: Some Thoughts on the Construction of an Innovation System for Philosophy and Social Sciences in China during the ‘12th Five-Year Plan Period. Social Sciences in China, 33 (3), 142-156. Thorns, D. (2002). The Transformation of Cities. New York: Palgrave Macmillian. Xiaoyun, L. (2014). China’s Industrialization: An Overview-Implication for Africa’Industralization. International Poverty Reduction Centre: China Yang, J. (2012). Ecological awareness in Contemporary Chinese Literature. Neohelican, 39 (1). Do1:10.1007/s 11059-012-0137-x. Yu, H, Yang, Y., Richeter, F., & Brahm, L. (2014). Institutional Innovation of Ecological Civilization: Conceptual Understanding and Experience Reference. EU-China Policy Dialogue Support Facility (PDSF) 11 and Policy Research for Environment and Economy (PRCEE). Beijing: European Union and China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. htpp: //www. prcee.org /piw/wwwroot/ Demo/ upload/Attach /mrbj/ 2530394430.). Zheng, H. (2011). Academic Discourse Right /Power and Development of Chinese Sociology. Social Sciences in China, 32 (4), 92-105. | ||
|
Statistics Article View: 79 PDF Download: 49 |
||
