UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Unwritten Spaces: African Literature and Charismatic Spatiality A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in English by Comfort Chioma Azubuko-Udah 2021 © Copyright by Comfort Chioma Azubuko-Udah 2021 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Unwritten Spaces: African Literature and Charismatic SpatiaLity by Comfort Chioma Azubuko-Udah Doctor of PhiLosophy in English University of CaLifornia, Los AngeLes, 2021 Professor Yogita GoyaL, Chair African literature itseLf tends to be framed monolithicaLLy. This tradition of bunching together representationaL literature of such a large and diverse place is not only reflective of an underlying imperiaList gaze, but it aLso sets the stage for certain stories, landscapes, and even authors, to emerge as synecdoches for the entire continent. The downside of this phenomenon is that many of the spaces and stories that do not prove exceptionaL suffer a dearth of representation, and their distinctness thus goes unacknowLedged and unappreciated. This dissertation explores how the institutionaL authorities on African literature have historicaLLy shaped the fieLd using a barometer of spectacLe and charisma, and how this institutionaL backdrop constructs and reinforces a spectrum of African Landscapes, spaces, and stories that favors only the most exceptionaL objects. This project attends to those places on the African continent which faLL in the middle of this spectrum and as such are less likeLy to find literary or scholarly representation in African texts. ii This project positions the mediaL territory between these poles to excavate the presence and function of an ever-present Western gaze in gatekeeping the fieLd of African literature and scholarship. “Unwritten Spaces” intervenes first by narrowing the fieLd a bit and focusing on a single and aLready richly diverse country, Nigeria. iii The dissertation of Comfort Chioma Azubuko-Udah is approved. Stephanie Frances Bosch ALLison Carruth Ursula K. Heise Cajetan Iheka Yogita GoyaL, Committee Chair University of CaLifornia, Los AngeLes 2021 iv For my parents, Ngozi and Azubuko. Unu Agbalịala. Nde! v Table of Contents AcknowLedgments vii Vita ix Introduction 1 References 33 1 | GLocaL Lagos: Charismatic SpatiaLity and its Implications 36 References 69 2 | Unwritten City: Abuja in The Nigerian Literary Imagination 71 References 109 3 | Warri No Dey Carry Last: Re-reading the Niger DeLta as a Site of 110 NationaL CulturaL Identity Production References 164 4 | Borrowed Charisma: Narrating Piped and Domestic Water 167 References 197 vi Acknowledgments I owe a debt of gratitude to my committee. Without their guidance and support, this dissertation would not have happened. I would like to thank Yogita GoyaL, for driving me to consider the broader stakes and implications of this project, for setting a very high standard of inteLLectuaL rigor, and pushing me to reach beyond the potentiaLs I could see in my work. ALLison Carruth heLped me to see the importance of compassion and colLegiaLity in this profession. Thank you for modeLing a baLanced approach to academia, where rigor and kindness hold equaL vaLue. Ursula Heise, without faiL, asked incisive questions that chaLLenged the cLarity and lucidity of my work. Thank you for your enthusiastic investment in this project, and for teaching the Biocities seminar aLongside Jon Christensen, where the very first kerneLs of my research topic were born. I would Like to thank Cajetan Iheka, my Igbo brother, for aLways encouraging me, providing speciaLized feedback on my work, and beLieving in my capacity to achieve goaLs that even I thought lofty. Thank you to Stephanie Bosch for your generosity and patience, and for serving as an important interlocutor when we discussed my work. You aLL aLways encouraged me to see inteLLectuaL chaLLenges as opportunities. I am very grateful for your mentorship through graduate school and beyond. I would aLso like to thank the other faculty members, who were not on my committee, but stiLL guided me throughout this doctoraL program. I am grateful to ELizabeth DeLoughrey for her contributions and support in buiLding up the ideas for this project in its earlier stages. I would Like to thank Jessica Berman, Richard Yarborough, and Fred D'Aguiar for holding my hand through the difficult times in the program as I tried to baLance scholarly pursuits with my generaL weLLbeing. I want to acknowLedge the role played by the community at the Laboratory for EnvironmentaL Narrative Strategies (LENS), and the EnvironmentaL Humanities Reading Group (EHRG) for keeping me ever curious and providing an exemplary community of scholars. I am grateful for the feedback I have received through the reading group, and for the connections and opportunities LENS provided throughout my graduate studies. My time at UCLA would not have been what it was without the friendship and camaraderie of my colLeagues, and feLLow students and scholars who kept me going. Thank you, WiLL Clark, for reading aLL those drafts without hesitation, and offering invaLuable feedback whiLe aLso cheering me on. I am particularly grateful to GabrieLa VaLenzueLa, Lauren Dembowitz, and Madina Thiam for their friendship, and for coming to my aid when I needed it the most. I would Like to thank the members of my cohort, for setting an atmosphere of support and encouragement, without any unheaLthy competition. I would especiaLLy like to thank CheLsea Kern for being my sister in scholarship, and for being an inspiration to keep me progressing through the program at a sensible pace. I am thankful to Spencer Robins, Abraham Encinas, and Gregory Toy, who were often avaiLable to engage in conversation at the TA offices where we encouraged each other. I am grateful for Tosin, the Bookstagrammer, who I met at the Ake Literary FestivaL in Lagos. Thank you for aLways being ready to discuss everything with me, from African literature to the Nigerian government. I must aLso acknowLedge the Zoom crew, Nicole Ramsey and Kristen Cardon, without you I could not have accomplished what I did during the pandemic and the lockdown. Thank you aLL very much. Moving to Los AngeLes aLone was a bit worrying at first, so I would like to express my gratitude to the people who made it feeL like home. Thank you to Tola and Jane for being my famiLy in those first few years. Thank you to Nicholas Chow for fostering a community of vii friends, and for feeding me aLL those times. I would like to thank the friends who made this sprawLing city homier and more navigable; Seze, ALexis, Chichi and Lolade. I am grateful for your friendship, and I am sure we wiLL continue to buiLd on what we have established here. I must acknowLedge the Oke FamiLy and Pastors Toyin and Niran Fafawora for adopting me into their homes and giving me a foster famiLy here in this city. And finaLLy, I may never find adequate expression for the debts I owe to my famiLy. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for the financiaL, spirituaL, and emotionaL support you unwaveringly provided throughout aLL of this. My sisters-friends, Mercy, Grace, and Condoleezza who have consistentLy heLd my hand and whose shoulders have soaked up lots of anxious tears over the course of this process. Esther and ELizabeth, the newer sisters for adding more love to the famiLy that grounds me. My big brothers, Shedrack and Robert for showing such a high leveL of confidence in my abiLities, and for their background support. And lastLy, my nieces, OLuebubechukwu and Chizaramekpere, for inspiring and sustaining me with their cuteness and toddler antics. You aLL have been my rock, and the primary source of my motivation to make it through the past decade of studying abroad. I am forever grateful. viii VITA Education 2019 | C.PhiL. University of CaLifornia, Los AngeLes. Department of English. 2017 | M.A. University of CaLifornia, Los AngeLes. Department of English. 2013 | B.A. with Honors. University of Maryland BaLtimore County. Department of English. Publications Azubuko-Udah, Comfort. “Unwritten City: Abuja in the Nigerian Literary Imagination” Journal of the African Literary Association. (Forthcoming). Azubuko, Comfort. “Edible City: PriviLeging Tree Aesthetics Misses Opportunity to Feed Our Urban Food Supply” KCET online. 2018 Azubuko, Comfort. “Portable Cultures, Food futures: How to Make Injera in Los AngeLes” KCET online. 2018 Azubuko, Comfort Chioma. “EmbouteiLLage” BozaLta. 2018 Azubuko-Udah, Comfort. “Inscribing the PostcoloniaL Subject: A Study on Nigerian Women.” UMBC Review. Vol. 15. 2014. Select Conference Presentations 2021 | “Censured Identities: Navigating Secular and ReLigious Censorship in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater.” African Literature Association AnnuaL Conference. VirtuaL. 2018 | “Inter-Ethnic Histories and the African Environment.” African Studies Association AnnuaL Conference. AtLanta, Georgia. 2018 | “African literature and the CapitaLocene.” Africa and CapitaLism Conference. UCLA. 2018 | “Family and the Environment in Chigozie Obioma’s The Fishermen.” African Literature Association AnnuaL Conference. Washington D.C. 2017 | “The Unwritten City: Abuja in the Nigerian Literary Imagination.” African Studies Association AnnuaL Conference. Chicago, IlLinois. HONORS AND FELLOWSHIPS 2021 | The LesLie Center for the Humanities MeLLon PostdoctoraL FeLLowship, Dartmouth ColLege 2019/2020 | English Department Dissertation Support feLLowship, UCLA ix 2019 | MeLLon-EPIC FeLLowship for EnvironmentaL Humanities 2018 | MeLLon-EPIC FeLLowship