The Ogoni Struggle: Ken Saro-Wiwa's Seeking Home at Unhomeliness

This paper interrogates the Ogoni struggle in Nigeria as a multidimensional struggle to find a “home” amidst the unhomeliness caused by environmental destruction and socio-political marginalization. This study focuses on Ken Saro-Wiwa, a notable Ogoni writer and activist whose literary and political activism aimed at ameliorating the conditions faced by his people.

This paper theoretically merges postcolonial displacement theory, Africana womanism, and Vogler’s narrative paradigm to explore Saro-Wiwa’s resistance and Ogoni struggle narratives. Through a close reading of Saro-Wiwa’s writings, the study shows how he articulated Ogoni’s longing for home as it faced displacement and environmental devastation. It further investigates Saro-Wiwa's application of literary devices and his interaction with the notion of unhomeliness, intending to illustrate the Ogoni and the essence of unhomeliness. These results indicate that Saro-Wiwa's writings are an important resource for exploring the complexities surrounding the Ogoni struggle and its implications for human rights and environmental justice in Nigeria.

The study concludes by reviewing Ken Saro-Wiwa's legacy in general and his message as relevant and continuing to be echoed in present-day struggles on global issues of environmental injustice and the quest for home in the face of displacement.