Through Sozaboy, Ken Saro-Wiwa explores how war on the African continent has come to function as a central aspect of political economy in the neoliberal world.
‘Work is war’, declares Manmuswak, a character in Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English, as he closes his bloodshot eyes to down his liquor. Saro-Wiwa’s novel draws us into the world of this incredibly interesting character, who links war on the African continent to the capitalist economy. A mysterious man with a penchant for cruelty and no cultural ties, Manmuswak invariably signifies the intersection between the neo-liberal worker and the culture of violence that has come to dominate the global world order.
Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, akin to its counterparts like oil-rich Angola or the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is characterized by resource wealth, a destitute local population and armed warfare. In recent years, it would seem that a wave of armed conflict has swept across the African continent: scholars, leaders, and citizens alike have watched with concern as violence continues to disrupt the lives of so many. War on the African continent has historically been framed as a moral failure of African governments and populations to foster ‘ethnic and religious tolerance’.
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