mothers living in Lagos .
Zulfiqar continues :
"[ I ] n the view of white Western feminism ‘ in order to be independent , an African woman must renounce her African identity because of the ' historically established and culturally sanctioned sexism of African society '. However if she wishes to retain her Africanness , then she must resign her claims to ' freedom ' and ' self-fulfilment .'" ( Zulfiqar , p . 48 )
Emecheta counteracts this dichotomy by illustrating the joy that Nnu Ego finds in the bush meat that Ato brings back from their home-town , Ibuza and the nostalgia it inspires after Nnu Ego has ‘ eagerly ’ ( Emecheta , p . 76 ) unwrapped it . ‘ What of my mothers [...] and my sisters and brothers ? I do miss them all ,’ ( Emecheta , p . 76 ) Emecheta laments . Whilst the gossip of the girls projects a playfully critical lens on the violence of patriarchal Ibo conventions , this prized gift from Nnu Ego ’ s father signifies that Ibo traditions and community remain a great source of joy . The eradication of Ibo culture for a more westernised form of feminism is not the solution to the violence of obligatory motherhood and would deprive Nnu Ego and Ibo women generally of much joy . This counteracts Western discourse around African women , which persistently portrays them as victims . Oyeronke Oyewumi dissects this prejudice :
"[ T ] he only African woman who is of interest to many international organizations is the victimized , the mutilated , and the ' poorest of the world ’ s poor ', [...] There is no room to imagine African women who can help themselves …" ( Oyewumi , ‘ Conclusion : Motherhood in the Quest for Social Transformation ’, 2015 , p . 215 )
Through depicting moments of joy , Emecheta offers Ibo women back their dignity by showing them to be more than just victims .
Animal ’ s People also depicts joy in the form of humour , but employs a much more profane and explicitly disruptive humour .
The novel takes place several years after the Kampani gas explosion , a fictionalisation of the real Bhopal disaster . In 1984 a Union Carbide chemical factory detonated , killing more than 3,800 ( The Death Toll , International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal ) people . According to New Internationalism , a further ‘ 500,000 are believed to be chronically ill due to the gas disaster and subsequent water contamination ( Laurenson , Bhopal Disaster , 2010 ). The disaster itself was an event of apocalyptic violence for those who lived in Bhopal , but has continued to be an example of what Rob Nixon calls ‘ slow violence [...] violence that occurs gradually and out of sight ; a delayed destruction ’ ( Nixon , ‘ Introduction ’ in Slow violence and the environmentalism of the poor , 2013 , p . 2 ).
At the novel ’ s opening , Animal is visited by a Western journalist who wishes to document Animal ’ s story as someone severely affected by the disaster . Animal expresses his resistance to the journalist ’ s request by mocking him . Pretending to dictate his story to the journalist ’ s tape recorder , he instead rejoices in singing a ‘ filthy song ’ ( Sinha , Animal ’ s People , 2007 , p . 5 ): ‘ I may just be a twisted runt / But I can sniff your mother ’ s cunt ’ ( Sinha , p . 5 ). He knows that the journalist does not understand his language and will only realise the truth of what Animal is singing when he has the tape translated . Seeing the journalist take notes , he then imagines what he must be writing , ‘ Let me guess , “ Animal chanted a poem , probably a traditional song of mourning , just now he was crazy with grief ”’ ( Sinha , p . 6 ). By mocking what he interprets as the
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