Literature and Politics

All living things interact in one way or the other with the natural environment. Man, in particular is positioned at the centre of the universe. Since the human world is entering a period of drastic change, man has seriously disregarded his responsibilities and necessary relationship with the natural environment. It is rather ironical that this ‘isolated’ domain, that is, nature, is the accommodative force of man, science and technology. Humanity’s survival and complete existence solely depends on his interrelationship with nature. This is because nature is the hallmark upon which man’s culture and civilization originate. Instead, man has consciously or unconsciously exposed many parts of nature to numerous risks. These human and non-human threats on nature have in no little way affected man’s social, political, economic and more especially, cultural existence. With the absence of a sustained environment, man in general, and the Africans in particular become culturally handicapped, bearing in mind that nature is the hallmark upon which their culture is formed.

There is therefore the need to re-read African Literature from an ecocritical perspective so as to reinforce the cross-fertilization that exists between nature and culture. In other words, a reading of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s The River Between and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions provides a new avenue for the melange of nature and culture.