The Spectacle of Militancy in the Niger Delta in Habila’s Oil on Water

Abstract

This study investigates Helon Habila’s Oil on Water, which depicts militancy as a sort of performance and spectacle in response to neocolonial exploitation and environmental degradation in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. While previous studies have concentrated on the novel’s ecological and political components, this study focuses on how militancy is intentionally staged to acquire awareness, question authority and reclaim agency. The problem this paper addresses is the insufficient scholarly attention to the performative and symbolic dimensions of militancy in Oil on Water, which are often overlooked in favor of interpretations that treat violence either as criminality or political protest. This gap in the literature necessitates a deeper exploration of militancy as a form of postcolonial resistance expressed through spectacle. Using postcolonial theory (Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha), the study investigates the hybrid identities and dramatized tactics of militants operating in a zone of marginalization and state neglect. Militant operations like as kidnapping, attack on oil infrastructure, and staged media interactions are interpreted as purposeful protests designed to recapture narrative authority and draw world attention. The methodology involves a close textual analysis of key scenes in Oil on Water that depict militant activities, with a focus on the symbolism and narrative techniques employed to dramatise resistance. Through this interpretive lens, militant operations are read as purposeful performances that aim to reclaim narrative authority, attract global attention, and highlight the injustices of oil capitalism and state negligence. By treating militancy as a symbolic and performative resistance, the novel offers a critical lens for understanding subaltern agency and the aesthetics of protest in postcolonial African literature.