Environment, Climate Change, Insecurity and World Peace: A Critical Examination of Selected African Literary Texts

Abstract

The interest in African literary texts has increased significantly in recent times. However, crucial issues such as climate change, environment, insecurity, and world peace have not received adequate attention, despite their relevance. This study explorse these topics in African literary texts of various genres by employing ecocriticism as a theoretical framework and using content analysis as the primary methodology. The corpus of this study focuses on the works of Ramonu Sanusi (novel Un Nègre a violé une Blonde á Dallas), Niyi Osundare (poem “They Too Are the Earth”), David Rubadiri (poem “African Thundersorm”), and Ahmed Yerima (play Ipomu), all of whom have been selected for sharing the primary objective of this work - to shed light on the environmental realities of modern society by describing the rates of environmental and climate change and their adverse effects on humanity. Moreover, the authors emphasize the need for world peace to ensure global sustainable development. By critically analyzing the African literary texts, this research seeks to contribute to the academic understanding of these significant global issues and the critical role that literature can play in addressing them.

El interés por la literatura africana ha crecido en la comunidad académica en años recientes. Sin embargo, temas cruciales como el cambio climático, el medio ambiente, la inseguridad y la paz mundial han recibido una atención insuficiente por parte de los estudiosos, a pesar de su enorme relevancia. Por lo tanto, el presente estudio se centra en el análisis de estos temas en textos literarios africanos, pertenecientes a diversos géneros, utilizando la ecocrítica como marco teórico y aplicando como metodología el análisis del contenido. El corpus de estudio se centra en obras de Ramonu Sanusi (novela Un Nègre a violé une Blonde á Dallas), Niyi Osundare (poema “They Too Are the Earth”), David Rubadiri (poema “African Thundersorm”) y Ahmed Yerima (drama Ipomu), autores seleccionados precisamente por compartir la principal inquietud de este trabajo: mostrar las realidades ambientales de la sociedad moderna. Dichos autores describen los índices del cambio ambiental y climático y sus efectos adversos en la humanidad, así como la necesidad de la paz mundial para asegurar el desarrollo sostenible global.