Proceed to your death

Lakuwa, environmental disaster management, and the culture of oil politics in Nigeria

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2391173
AutoresỌmọlade Adunbi (0000-0003-1481-0883, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, autor de correspondencia), Babajide Ololajulo (University of Ibadan)
Año2020
Volumen25
Número1
Páginas36-59
Fecha de publicación2020-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183519843695
OpenAlexW2938098074
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas31

Since the 1990s, in the riverine areas of Nigeria, the ecological menace of water hyacinth has been turned into an object of politics by various administrations. Among the Ilajes, an oil-rich community in the southwestern part of Nigeria, water hyacinth is considered to be poisonous and an impediment to people's livelihoods. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, the authors explore how an invasive species, known locally as lakuwa - translated as 'proceed to your death' - gets inserted into the politics of oil distribution. They argue that, just like oil, water hyacinth presents certain features that enable its conversion from poisonous species to money, and the article particularly explores how the conversion of water hyacinth, an ecological 'plague', fits into popular narratives of environmental degradation in Nigeria. The authors argue that the invasive nature of water hyacinth warrants a form of state response that deepens already existing forms of prebendal political interactions between the environment, local political leaders, and their numerous followers

Archaeology · Biology · Environmental degradation · Geography · Hyacinth · Livelihood · Political ecology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Aquatic Ecosystems and Biodiversity · Biological Control of Invasive Species · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Law · Ecology