Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 22 Issue 5

© 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue V Version I 5 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 A A Social Ecological Reading of Kaine Agary’s Yellow Yellow by the people due to oil spillage, neglect by government and multinationals. The oil spill in Zilayefa’s village consequently aborted lots of dreams and aspirations and also amounted to poverty on the part of the Niger Deltans. For them, the only escape from poverty and hardship is for the girls to resort to prostitution while the boys drop out of schools to join the notorious militant groups in getting their share of the “national cake” (pp. 8-12). Exploitation and hardship are not just the courses of underdevelopment in the Niger Delta, but corruption as well. Chukwueloka argues that corruption has contributed a great deal to the stagnation of the area. He points at the police, the judicial system, the political class and the oil companies as the major perpetrators of corrupt practices which stagnates and retards development in the Niger Delta and Nigeria at large (pp. 12-15). Chukwueloka’s study of the novel is different from the present study because, it is motivated by the Marxist ideology. Though the present study is a study in environmentalism, especially one that has its roots in Marxism, it is still different from Chukwueloka’s study which basis of analysis centres on traditional Marxist tenets. Uchenna Ohagwam concerns himself with finding answers to some of the enduring questions in the Niger Delta since the discovery of oil in its commercial quantity in the area. Some of the questions include: to what extent has the discovery of oil affected or improved the socio-economic development of the people and the area? Why do crises persist in the area? He strives to find answers to these questions with Yellow Yellow by employing postcolonial ecocritical theory. In the article titled “The Niger Delta Crises in the Niger Delta Novel: Reflections on Kaine Agary’s Yellow Yellow ”, Ohagwam undertakes an assessment of the crises in the area as occasioned by oil exploration. He identifies several crises that bedevils the area but however concentrates on environmental despoliation, youth restiveness, betrayal and infrastructural neglect as the major ones that deter developments in the area (p. 11). He buttresses his arguments by citing instances from Yellow Yellow . He concludes that these crises have persisted due to neglect and betrayal on the part of leaders and has amounted to several violent ills perpetrated by youths of the region either to protect their environment which they have lost hope in government or leaders, or for their personal gains. The study therefore advocates for dialogue and peaceful resolution of the crises for the preservation and sustenance of human and non-human lives in the environment (p. 16). Uchenna Ohagwam undertakes a very critical look at the environmental crisis of the Niger Delta area in the larger body of postcolonial ecocriticism. However, his study differs in that he explores the general effect of environmental pollution on the people of the area. On the contrary, my study is mainly concerned with the negative effect of environmental pollution on the subaltern none-humans, as well as advocating for environmental justice for the non-human subaltern. Having reviewed all the accessible studies on Kaine Agary’s Yellow Yellow , it is apparent that none of the studies reviewed considered the novel from a social ecological perspective as propagated by Murray Bookchin. Ignatius Chukwumah; Nwangwu, Julia Chidinma and Ibiene E. Iboroma concentrates on the psychological effects of single parenting on the child, while Kayode Omoniyi Ogunfolabi in a similar note feel obliged to explore the trauma that comes with being a product of mixed racial parentage. Olubunmi Ashaolu finds solace in linking women’s exploitation to that of nature in an ecofeminist study. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh delves into a feminist study of Yellow Yellow just like Koussouhon, Leonard A. and Ashani M. Dossoumou who combines womanism and critical discourse theory in order to find a balance for the female characters in Yellow Yellow . Robert Esther and Ekemini Sunday Umoekah’s study is purely a linguistic study of the novel which is aimed at revealing hidden codes in the novel. While that of Chukwueloka, Christian C. is a Marxist study aimed at exposing the exploitation of some characters by others in a capitalist society. And lastly Uchenna Ohagwam’s study of the test is a postcolonial ecocritical one which is more concern with the social issues and challenges that greeted the discovery and exploitation of petroleum products in Nigeria and how it affects the human agents in the novel. Therefore, these studies have revealed that attention has not in any way been paid to non-human species of the environment which is what this research is geared towards, also none of the studies advocate for environmental justice for non-humans using Bookchin’s social ecology as theoretical outlook. Hence, these studies validate the relevance of my present study. e) Social Hierarchy and Domination in Kaine Agary’s Yellow Yellow Kaine Agary’s (2006) Yellow Yellow tells the story of a teenage girl, Zilayefa, who in her bid to find herself escapes from her rural community to the city of Port Harcourt in her quest for a better and more fulfilling life. In telling her story, the narrator reveals the devastating ecological challenges that threaten to extinct her rural community. Yellow Yellow presents a society that is highly structured along economic and social lines. A society that is structured along rural and urban, ethnic, racial, economic lines, bourgeoisie and proletariats, exploiters and exploited and rulers/kings and subjects which are all aimed at social relation anchored on exploitation. The social relation that exists in Agary’s society is one of exploitation and these social relations are what we shall explore critically in this novel and also try to argue that these exploitative relations among humans are at the base of non-human exploitation and by extension responsible for most