How Beautiful We Were: A Resistance Narrative Uncovering Political Ecology in Postcolonial Eco- Fiction

Abstract

This paper explores the intersection of political ecology and resistance narrative in Imbolo Mbue’s novel How Beautiful We Were (2021). I argue that political ecology is shaped by neoliberal policies such as slow violence and oil politics. I further contend that environmental degradation, colonial practices, and neoliberal policies exploit the indigenous lives of Kosawa and highlight the resistance narrative of the Kosawa people. My research finds support in the framework of political ecology by Eric Wolf, the concept of slow violence by Rob Nixon, oil politics by Dag Harald Claes, and resistance narrative by Joanna Wheeler. It develops a complex framework because my research contends that slow violence and oil politics contour political ecology. Therefore, my research argues that the selected fiction employs narrative resistance to foreground the entanglement of environmental injustice in colonial practices, ultimately indicating how storytelling becomes an instrumental tool of resistance to reclaim identity.

Keywords: Political Ecology, Neoliberalism, Oil Politics, Slow Violence, Resistance Narrative