Papers for Volume 3, No.1
Papers for Volume 3, No.1
OGBAZULUOBODO Volume 3, No. 1 Preliminary Pages
THE GRASS IS NOT ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE: REVISITING MIGRANT NARRATIVE IN ADICHIE’S AMERICANAH
Abstract
The phenomenon of human migration, otherwise known as Westward movement in search of greener pastures in continental Europe and America, has continued to gain copious expressions in both literary and non-literary discourse across disciplines. Writers from erstwhile European colonies like the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Africa among others have artistically documented fictional experiences of migrant characters, all of whom are portrayed to have embarked on desperate journeys as the viable escapement from the protracted economic woes and political instabilities of their respective countries of origin. In most fictional narratives, the rippling effects of neo-colonialism, neo-slavery which directly translated into total disillusionment with the postcolonial states, have been identified as the triple stimuli for such migrations. One such narrative that hinges on the migrant-status of individual character(s) is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. Using postcolonial literary theory, this paper argues that the lingering effects of colonialism have amplified the alleged emptiness of most colonies thus, succeeds in the pristine projection of the West as utopia in the minds and psyches of many immigrants. This tendency has successfully lured migrant characters to continental Europe and America where lives turn out to be a mirage and a direct opposite of what they envisioned back home.
Keywords: Migration, Americanah, Neo-slavery, Neo-colonialism, Narrative, Postcolonial, Adichie.
ABDUL’AZIZBAKO & SAMUEL ENUDI
MIGRATION OF CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN ARTISTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: MATTERS ARISING
Abstract
About two (2) decades to the twilight of the 20th century, Nigeria contemporary/modern art started experiencing a massive ‘brain drain’ of its stakeholders and practitioners. At least in some scholars’ parlance the migration of Nigerian artists to ‘Euroamerican’ nations did not in any way improve the condition of modern/contemporary African or Nigerian art whose meaning and essence has been determined by western standard. Rather it added to the global dislocation and the loss of identity currently bedeviling Africa/Nigeria modern and contemporary art. The 21st century did not change anything as the migration continued and increased in tempo. Also, one in every five (5) art graduates in Nigeria wants to leave for the west. Today we hear of ‘Canada-based Nigerian Artist; US-based Nigerian Art Historian; or ‘British-based Nigerian curator/Art critic.’ A comprehensive review of related literature will be conducted on the historical/recent issues on migration accompanied by an In-depth Interviews (IDIs) with some art stakeholders in the country on their opinion on this trend/development. The study will be fine-tuned with a theoretical framework in migration studies and the Push and Pull Theory will suffice.
Keywords: Migration, Contemporary/Modern Art, West, Artists
UCHE NNADOZIE
FEMALE SEX-SLAVERY IN CHIKA UNIGWE’S ON BLACK SISTERS’ STREET AND CHRIS ABANI’S BECOMING ABIGAIL
Abstract
Migration is a practice that is as old as humankind. One of the foremost reasons that engender it is the search for a better existence than what is obtainable in the migrant’s present domain. This paper critically examines Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street and Chris Abani’s Becoming Abigail to examine female trafficking as a form of forced migration that is neo-slavery in nature. Female trafficking, otherwise called sex slavery, is maintained on a network of power that subjects the victim to gross inhuman treatment and excessive objectification. This paper, therefore, engages the life of the sex-slaves in the selected texts in their disillusionment and helplessness. The paper will further explore the cyclic violence that is inescapable for the victims of sex slavery.
Keywords: Sex-slavery, female trafficking, migration, erasure, On Black Sisters’ Street, Becoming Abigail
MARY J. N. OKOLIE & CHIAMAKA C. CHUKWUNWIKE
THE FEMALE BEING, MIGRATION AND NEO-SLAVERY: A TALE OF TRIAL AND TRIUMPH IN AKACHI ADIMORA – EZEIGBO’S TRAFFICKED
Abstract
This paper critically examines the various negative stereotypical perceptions about trafficked female beings and their determination to survive against all odds. It makes a critical textual analysis of the protagonist and two other female characters in Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s Trafficked, showing the trials and triumphs of the female being and the ‘choice to challenge’ in line with the 2021 International Women’s Day theme ‘’ Choose to Challenge’’, despite all limitations and backlashes, thereby showing the strength of a typical African woman who is filled with vigour, determination and aspirations. This paper also examines whether the novelist is judgmental, moralistic about women trafficking or if the women in the novel are victims of society and unwilling partners in the sex trade. Thus, a humanist approach will be employed.
Keywords: African, Female Being, Migration, Neo-Slavery, Choose to Challenge, Trafficking.
DAVID IFEANYICHUKWU NWAKANMA
MIGRATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT: A PSYCHOANALYTIC READING OF ADICHIE’S AMERICANAH
Abstract
This paper studies the main characters in Adichie’s Americanah psychoanalytically. Adichie’s Americanah is a novel that deals with contemporary issues of global concerns, such as, racism, sexism, gender, and migration. In the narrative text, Americanah, Adichie presents the reader with a story that encompasses love, race, identity and migration. Set across Nigeria, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, the novel presents a multifaceted perspective on the experiences of the characters that face these contemporary issues and how they subsequently transform through such experiences. Americanah belongs to the diasporic African literature genre. It can also be classified as a bildungsroman novel as it “traces the spiritual, emotional and mental growth of its eponymous heroine, Ifemelu, while describing her journey from Nigeria to the United States and back” (Krishnamurthy 54). These developments affect her self-definition, how she initially tries to change her identity, and how she finally comes to the acceptance of her identity to the point that she realizes that her return home will bring the desired solace. This study examines the psychological growth of the major characters and how they shape their identities while sojourning overseas. It will also uncover the various defense mechanisms they unconsciously employ when faced with anxiety or threats, and the driving force that motivates them. To achieve this, this critical inquiry aims to do a study of the main characters in the novel; Ifemelu and Obinze using Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis. Attempts have been made in this paper to give form to the “shifting ambiguities and complexities of unidealized existence” (Frye, 223).
Keywords: Psychoanalysis, Bildungsroman, Migration, Racism, Racial profiling
STELLA OKOYE-UGWU & CHINAZAEKPERE ISIWU
THE LOGIC OF AFRICAN DIGNITY AMID 21ST CENTURY NEO-SLAVERY
Abstract
Slavery has a long tradition which is as old as human existence. Slavery is the condition in which a person is owned by another in whom all the powers attaching to the right of ownership belong. It is either physical or mental. In Slavery, two actors are known: the slave and the slave master (Lord). A slave assumes a mere property to his master (Lord) who uses and disposes his slave at will. In moral psychology (ethics), slavery is a direct violation on human dignity in the sense that, it uses human being (slave) as a means. Recent studies show that slavery is of increase with the inception of 21st century. Most of the significant victims of slavery in history is the black child especially, the African child. The African is discriminated against because of his skin colour and technological backwardness. This in effect affects the affirmation of an African as a person. The purpose of this study is to defend logically, from the ‘philosophy of being a person’, that all human beings are endowed with dignity. The study will be of relevance in supporting the fact that the African is rational, and he is qualified and entitled to dignity.
Keywords: Dignity, Slavery, Neo-Slavery, Human, African.
BRUNO ONYINYEUMUNAKWE, DECLAN O. AGUZIE & STEPHEN IBEDIMMA NNADI
HUMAN TRAFFICKING, HUMAN FRAILTY, AND HUMAN VULNERABILITY: IS NULLIFICATION OF CONSENT AS A RELEVANT CONSIDERATION IN TRAFFICKING CASES JUSTIFIABLE UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW?
Abstract
Because the central goal of international human rights law is to protect individual liberty and freedom, it would seem redundant to simultaneously characterize that same law as a constraint upon human freedom. Nevertheless, human rights law does, in fact, at least in a few instances, constrain human freedom. One of such instances, contained in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children (Palermo Protocol), which is a human rights centered legal instrument, is the annulment of consent on the part of individuals being trafficked, including adults, as a relevant consideration in determining culpability. This is quite paradoxical and raises at least three critical questions. First, in nullifying consent as a defense to a charge of trafficking, is human rights law violating the principle of individual autonomy – itself a core human rights concept? If the response is positive, as this paper seeks to affirm, the next logical question becomes, can a legal action be instituted on the basis of the infraction? If not – and this is the third question – is the constraint upon freedom to consent to being trafficked justifiable? Responding to these perplexing paradoxes of international human rights law is the task of this paper.
Keywords: Human trafficking, consent, vulnerability, Palermo Protocol, human rights
OBIAJULU NNAMUCHI
NEO-SLAVERY AND SEXUAL EXPLOITATION: FEMALE VICTIMS IN SELECTED NIGERIAN FICTION
Abstract
Fictional production of the twenty first century has opened a vista upon which can be reflected the issues of neo-slavery, sexual exploitation and female victimization in Nigerian historical process. New forms of slavery have become visible in the world today. This is in spite of the fact that slavery has been legally abolished all over the world. Regrettably, illegal slavery or compelled labor without proper remuneration permeates the modern world especially as sexual exploitation. The Nigerian society is not left out of this evil malaise in which women and children are usually vulnerable and easy preys. Nigerian literary sphere has captured incidences of sexual intimidation and manipulation represented in Nigerian fictional texts. Researches abound of sexual exploitation and rape, child labor, human trafficking and other forms of exploitation, violence and slavery in wider literary discussions. This work examines occurrences of slavery and exploitation of women represented in selected Nigerian literary outputs. The study is based on the framework of Karl Marx’s theory of Exploitation that explains the unfair treatment of a class by others. It x-ray issues of female mistreatment by the powerful and the rich in selected Nigerian literary texts: Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Violence by Festus Iyayi and Woes of Ikenga by Ndubuisi George. Specifically, the paper highlights cases of sexual abuse in the selected texts. This study calls for the provision of better welfare for the people and the enabling laws to provide deterrents against human trafficking to ensure the protection of vulnerable Nigerian female gender in the 21st century.
Keywords: Neo-Slavery, Sexual Exploitation, Human Trafficking, Victimization, Rape.
NGOZI DORA ULOGU, UKAMAKA CLEMENTINA ONYEKA & NKECHI CHRISTIANA OKOLI
RETHINKING APARTHEID, XENOPHOBIA AND IDENTITY POLITICS: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE
Abstract
Apartheid, racism and xenophobia are pejorative terms that express discrimination between the white and the black race. Segregation between the white and black is obviously well-pronounced, whereas segregation among the black race despite its dissension and divisiveness is subtly acknowledged. While white-black segregation causes visible tension, conflict and contentions over rights and privileges overtly; the segregation among the black race internalizes hatred, unhealthy competitions and covert contentions over rights. In Nigeria, issues of federal character, state of origin, quota system, indigene/settler citizenship and primitive land tenure system are instituted systems tantamount to apartheid which had exacerbated discrimination, xenophobic and identity politics in Nigeria. Others are informal but social prejudices like ridiculing of speech ascent and facial marks and derogatory name-calling among the various ethnic groups. The paper adopts qualitative research methodology and uses primordial, constructivist and instrumentalist theories of ethnicity to explicate how identities have been constructed along racial, linguistic, ethnic and cultural affiliations which has created xenophobic and prejudiced relations akin to apartheid in Nigeria. Considering the Nigerian motto, “unity and faith, peace and progress” the position of the paper is that xenophobic, segregation, discrimination and identity politics have severely undermined the faith of Nigerians, hence; unity, peace and progress remain unfeasible.
Keywords: Apartheid, Identity Politics, Racism, Segregation, Xenophobia
KENNETH IGBO NWOKIKE, CHIJIOKE EGWU EKUMAOKO & IKENNA UKPABI UNYA
ASSESSMENT OF AUDIENCE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE TO MEDIA MESSAGES ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND ILLEGAL MIGRATIONAMONG RESIDENTS OF EDO STATE, NIGERIA
Abstract
This research work assessed audience knowledge, attitude and practice to media messages on human trafficking and illegal migration. Anchoring on two complementary theories – The Agenda Setting Theory and Attitude Change Theory as well as the survey research methodology approach, the study examines audience knowledge, attitude and practice towards media messages on human trafficking focusing on Edo State. The media through print and broadcast media have produced and disseminated news stories which have contributed a lot towards sensitizing members of the public about the scourge of human trafficking thereby increasing knowledge and understanding of human trafficking and illegal migration root causes. Findings reveal that that unfortunately, the increased knowledge level has not led to significant changes in attitude and practice to reduce the exploitation of people. This is because the poor attitude and economic situation prevalent in the country has increased the desire to search for greener pastures. The study concludes that communication should focus more on targeting and dispelling misconceptions with a view to eliminating them and to spur individuals to change their attitude and adopt life-saving practices. The paper recommends that traditional rulers, the clergy and opinion leaders should be involved in the planning and dissemination of messages to audiences. There is also an urgent need to coordinate and increase the efforts of law enforcement agencies, stakeholders and the government to help in the re-integration of returned trafficked persons and to develop strategies towards developing effective media campaigns against human trafficking and illegal migration.
Keywords: Human trafficking, illegal migration, knowledge, attitude and practice
ROBERT EZEANWU, FLORENCE ORABUEZE & EMEKA OREKYEH
LINGUISTIC EFFECTS OF MIGRATION ON IGALA LANGUAGE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Abstract
The work discusses how migration of people to Igala speaking communities has affected the linguistic fecundity of the language and the researcher uses different instances of usage to express the findings. The study adopts (sociolinguistic) eclectic theory to analyze the data collected. The researcher made us of questionnaires, interviews and observation and written texts as instruments for the collection of data. The work discusses brief history of the Igala people, code switching, code mixing, linguistic effect of migration on Igala language, pidginization, linguistic diversity, linguistic social justice and language contact. Findings from this study reveal that migration of people into Igala results in code-switching, code-mixing, borrowing and pidginization among others. Based on the above findings, recommendations were made for a linguistic study of the effect of migration on Igala language for pedagogical purposes and for the avoidance of language dearth.
Key words: Igala, Migration, Language, Pidgin, Eclectic-theory