Title:   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.

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Publication Date: 2022-03-03