Literary representations of forced transnational prostitution as postcolonial trauma in selected Nigerian novels

Abstract

The literary trauma theory, since its inception, has been used to analyse different types of trauma texts in Europe. In the past decade, there have been attempts to expand the frontiers of the theory to accommodate other forms of trauma like postcolonial trauma. The present study seeks to contribute to such efforts by examining four Nigerian novels: Chris Abani‘s Becoming Abigail (2006), Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo‘s Trafficked (2008), Abidemi Sanusi‘s Eyo (2009), and Ifeoma Chinwuba‘s Merchants of Flesh (2011) that deal with the trafficking in women and children from Nigeria into forced prostitution in Europe. Using the postcolonial trauma theory and the transactional reader postcolonial trauma. response theory, the study pursues two main aims: First, the study examines how the various authors navigate the balance between the ethical and political needs of narrating sexual violence. Second, it examines how the trauma associated with forced transnational prostitution can be construed as The study reveals that the authors adopt realist narration to be able to highlight the political issues surrounding forced transnational prostitution while at the same time narrating the sexual abuses. To fulfill the ethical demands, details of the actual rape are redacted from the narration to avoid eroticising the trauma of the victims. Lastly, the authors make use of indigenous resources like storytelling, belief in juju, and rituals to anchor the trauma to the Nigerian postcolonial context.