Flowing Identities: Water, Ecofeminism, and Environmental Consciousness in the Novels of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Abstract

This article examines the symbolic, ecological, and political significance of water in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novels Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and Americanah (2013) through the interdisciplinary perspectives of ecofeminism, postcolonial ecocriticism, Blue Humanities, and hydrofeminism. While Adichie's fiction has been widely studied in relation to gender, migration, nationalism, and postcolonial identity, relatively little attention has been given to water as a central ecological metaphor. This study argues that rivers, rainfall, wells, and oceans function not merely as physical settings but as dynamic narrative forces that shape identity, memory, environmental consciousness, and social relationships. Through close textual analysis, the article demonstrates that water symbolizes silence, healing, and resistance in Purple Hibiscus; ecological destruction, scarcity, and collective trauma in Half of a Yellow Sun; and migration, cultural displacement, and fluid identity in Americanah. Drawing on the theories of Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies, Val Plumwood, Greta Gaard, Astrida Neimanis, and postcolonial ecocriticism, the study reveals how Adichie links environmental degradation with patriarchal power, colonial legacies, and global inequality. It concludes that water operates as a unifying ecological symbol that connects gender justice with environmental sustainability, contributing a new perspective to African literary studies, environmental humanities, and contemporary ecofeminist criticism.