Current Volume 8
Abstract
This paper interrogates Ecofeminism from a comparative male and a female perspectives. From an androcentric lens, Helon Habila’s Oil on Water (2010) foregroundsinterlacing relationships of both nature and the female folk on the altar of commoditization, objectification and subjugation with strong focus on the impact of petrodollar on the Niger Delta environment and their women. On the other hand, Bessie Head’s When Rain Cloud Gather (1969) amidst other thematic preoccupation is first a pastoral novel that focuses on agrarian issues, land, drought, female plight, cultural practices and environmental issues. Both Habila and Head’s as novelists are noted for their strong political undertones but this essay focuses on the place of nature and women in the Nigerian and Botswana rural settings. The novels are comparatively juxtaposed showingEcofeminist’s mappings as they heavily features “agro-cultural” practices that seemingly suppresses nature and women. Head and Habilarepresent these female characters as “Ecowarrior”, groomers, growers against an arid and a polluted landscape. Head’s debut novel anticipated it times in its depiction of ecocritical ideals, while Habila’s text, though portraying a different political and socio-cultural milieu attends to the continuous abuse of both the female and nature in patriarchal societies. The essay uses Ecofeminism as a theoretical frameworkin presenting cultural issues that are tendentiously repetitive motif of both nature and women. The essay also presents nature as unfathomable, aggressive and indifferent. The paper sums that Habila and Head’s portrayal of women differs. Head’s women expressesfemale power throughcollective formidability in spite of their squalid experiencesof aridity but Habila’s women though strong, are portrayed as manipulative and manipulated. Finally, this paper appeals that cultural practices that appear todestroy nature and shackle women should be strongly reconsidered and curtailed if not totally abhorred.
Keywords
Bessie Head, Helon Habila, Ecofeminism, Oil on Water, When Rain Cloud GathersAfrican Novel
Citations
IRE Journals:
Paul Okun , Steve Omagu , Uchenna Eze
"Ecofeminism in Bessie Head's When Rain Cloud Gathers and Helon Habila's Oil on Water" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 7 Issue 9 2024 Page 277-287
IEEE:
Paul Okun , Steve Omagu , Uchenna Eze
"Ecofeminism in Bessie Head's When Rain Cloud Gathers and Helon Habila's Oil on Water" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 7(9)
About IRE Journals
IRE Journals is an open access online journals established with an aim to publish high quality of research work in various diciplines. We have more than 6 years in publications. Over 2500+ papers already published.
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