Narrativising Peace and its Significance in Multicultural Resource Conflicts:The Example of Emmanuel Egya Sule’s Makwala

Abstract

Several studies have shown how artworks reflect the magnitude of human disaster
on the environment, and well-being due to the exploitation of natural resources
such as oil, gas, and timber by capitalist multinational companies. However,
these researchers have not paid due attention to the fundamental role of Nigerian
fiction in communicating peace in a natural resource and multicultural setting.
Drawing from Emmanuel Egya Sule’s novel Makwala (2018), this paper
delineates how abundant natural resources bound to certain regions in Nigeria
are causing a specific type of natural resource conflict, friction, and diverse
unrest. In this light, natural resource conflicts are skirmishes triggered by the
unfavourable manner in which resources are harnessed. The presence of natural
resources has created deep-seated disgruntlement because the resource barely
trickles down to the common people. Consequently, this paper explores how
conflict disrupts, thereby creating dissonance, hence the dire need to
communicate peace. Using the theoretical tool of Non-Violent Communication
(NVC) by Marshal Rosenberg to reframe resource conflicts, NVC’s emphasis on
authentic dialogue, empathy, and unmet needs offers a pathway to transform
conflicts into collaborative peacebuilding. This study, therefore, proposes that
communicating peace amidst natural resource conflict is imperative to forestall
anarchy in Northern Nigeria’s multicultural setting.