Environmental Displacement and the Socioeconomic Burden of Conflicts in Zakes Mda’s Heart of Redness and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun

Tarimoweni Justline Egule

doi:10.56201/ijelcs.vol.11.no4.2026.pg35.45

📄 Download Paper

Environmental Displacement and the Socioeconomic Burden of Conflicts in Zakes Mda’s Heart of Redness and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun

Tarimoweni Justline Egule

Abstract

This study undertakes a comparative ecocritical and postcolonial analysis of environmental displacement and the socioeconomic burden of conflict as represented in Zakes Mda’s Heart of Redness (2000) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006). Drawing on ecocritical theory, displacement studies, and postcolonial frameworks, the paper argues that both novels expose how ideological conflict and armed warfare function as forms of ecological terrorism that uproot human communities, destroy livelihoods, and generate cascading socioeconomic catastrophes. In Mda’s text, the nineteenth-century religious schism among the amaXhosa — precipitated by the prophetess Nongqawuse’s cattle-killing movement — is deployed as a narrative lens through which to examine the destructive interplay between superstition, ideological extremism, and environmental devastation. In Adichie’s novel, the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War (1967–1970) catalyses waves of internal displacement, infrastructural collapse, food insecurity, and psychological trauma that unmake the social fabric of southeastern Nigeria. Both narratives reveal that displacement is never merely spatial: it is the simultaneous dismantling of cultural identity, economic capacity, and communal belonging. The study identifies three convergent dynamics across the texts: (1) conflict-induced environmental degradation as a primary driver of forced migration; (2) the compounding socioeconomic vulnerabilities that displacement produces, including poverty, food insecurity, and the erosion of social capital; and (3) the resilience strategies communities deploy in the face of dispossession. The findings underscore the urgency of holistic policy responses that integrate conflict resolution, environmental protection, and post-conflict socioeconomic reconstruction. The paper contributes to African literary ecocriticism by demonstrating how fiction serves as a powerful medium for examining the human costs of environmentally disruptive conflicts.

Keywords

environmental displacementecocriticismforced migrationideological conflictsocioeconomic burden.

References

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Half of a Yellow Sun. Fourth Estate, 2006. Adugna, Ashenafi Belay. “Ecological Sensibility and the Pursuit of Progress in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Wizard of the Crow: A Comparative Postcolonial Ecocritical Analysis.” Cogent Arts & Humanities, vol. 12, no. 1, 2024. doi:10.1080/23311983.2024.2442824. Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. Postcolonial Studies: The Key Concepts. Routledge, 2007. Birama, Ndayi Prosper. “African Traditional Culture and Modernity in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness.” Thesis. University of the Western Cape, 2005. Clark, Timothy. The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and the Environment. Cambridge UP, 2011. Dannenberg, Hilary P. “Culture and Nature in The Heart of Redness.” Ways of Writing: Critical Essays on Zakes Mda, edited by David Bell and J. U. Jacobs, KwaZulu-Natal UP, 2009, pp. 169–190. Dolce, Maria Renata. “Reconciling Nature and Culture for an Eco-Sustainable World: Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness.” Le Simplegadi, no. 16, 2016, pp. 61–73. Farred, Grant. “A Politics of Doubt: The Dissensual in The Heart of Redness.” WERKWINKEL, vol. 2, no. 1, 2007, pp. 101–119. Glotfelty, Cheryll, and Harold Fromm, editors. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. U of Georgia P, 1996. Hagemann, Michael Eric. “Humour as a Postcolonial Strategy in Zakes Mda’s Novel, The Heart of Redness.” Thesis. University of the Western Cape, 2005. Hiltner, Ken, editor. Ecocriticism: The Essential Reader. Routledge, 2015. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre . Global Report on Internal Displacement. IDMC, 2016. International Committee of the Red Cross . “ICRC Position on Internally Displaced Persons .” May 2006. www.icrc.org. Accessed 22 Oct. 2022. Karmakar, Goutam, and Rajendra Chetty. “Epistemic Belief and Obedience: Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness and the Decolonial Ecological Turn.” Journal of Narrative and Language Studies, vol. 11, no. 21, 2023, pp. 24–39. Mda, Zakes. The Heart of Redness. Oxford UP, 2000. Mogoboya, Mphoto, and Ratau Shokane. “An Afrocentric Essentialisation of Orality in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness.” Natural Volatiles & Essential Oils, vol. 9, no. 1, 2022, pp. 221–232. Mtheku, Raphael Vikinduku. “The Examination of Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness (2000).” Thesis. University of Durban-Westville, 2003. Nfon, Rita Gola, and Nyuykighan Dora Mbu. “Narrating the Environment in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness.” International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, vol. 4, no. 10, 2020, pp. 281–288. Okuyade, Ogaga. “Eco-Cultures and the African Literary Tradition.” Handbook of Ecocriticism and Cultural Ecology, edited by Hubert Zapf, CPI Books, 2016, pp. 459–480. Opukri, Christian O., and Ibaba Samuel Ibaba. “Oil-Induced Environmental Degradation and Internal Population Displacement in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.” Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, vol. 10, no. 1, 2008, pp. 173–193. Peires, J. B. The Dead Will Arise: Nongqawuse and the Great Xhosa Cattle-Killing Movement of 1856–7. Ravan Press, 1989. Price, Jason D. “Desire and the Law: Creative Resistance in The Reluctant Passenger and The Heart of Redness.” Animals and Desire in South African Fiction, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, pp. 181–236. Saccaggi, Carol. “The Reinvention of Historical Discourse in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness and Mike Nicol’s This Day and Age.” Thesis. University of the Witwatersrand, 2005. Samin, Richard. “Nongqawuse Resurrected: Legend and History in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness.” Commonwealth Essays and Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, 2008, pp. 48–58. Undie, J. Ushinyin, Blessing A. Ushie, and J. Duruamaku-Dim. “Influence of Sex and Superstitious Beliefs on Pupils’ Academic Performance in the Early Years’ Science in South Eastern Nigeria.” International Journal of Education and Evaluation, vol. 4, no. 3, 2018, pp. 45–58. Vyse, Stuart A. Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition. Oxford UP, 2009. Zard, Monette. The Internally Displaced in Perspective. Migration Policy Institute, 2002. www.migrationpolicy.org/article/internally-displaced-perspective. Accessed 24 Oct. 2022.

Environmental Displacement and the Socioeconomic Burden of Conflicts in Zakes Mda’s Heart of Redness and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun

Abstract

Keywords

References

More Articles from INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES