Abstract
This work scrutinizes the representation of environmental trauma and grassroots rebellion in Julie Okoh’s play, We Are Rivers, against the backdrop of crude oil exploration and exploitation in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. The research problem centres on the persistent environmental degradation, socio-economic dislocation and systemic marginalization of oil producing communities, particularly the human and ecological consequences of unregulated extractive activities by both local and foreign companies, aided by state complicity. This study aims to explore how Julie Okoh utilizes drama to narrate the lived realities of ecological injustice and the collective responses of affected communities through resistance, protest, and violence. Drawing on ecocriticism theoretical frameworks, this study employs textual analysis and close reading methods to interrogate the play’s portrayal of environmental degradation, gendered suffering and sociopolitical rebellion. The main findings reveal that We Are Rivers dramatizes the destruction of land and livelihood, the silencing of the masses' voices and the eventual mobilization of the people as forms of both survival and confrontation. Julie Okoh’s characters embody the psychological and material consequences of living in a toxic environment while also asserting agency in defying exploitation and reclaiming identity. The implications of this research suggest that Nigerian environmental literature, particularly by female playwrights, serves as a potent medium for resistance and consciousness, bridging artistic expression with political activism. This study also highlights the need to reassess national and international oil policies that prioritize profit over people. In conclusion, We Are Rivers functions as a powerful eco-political critique, urging a reconsideration of development models that sacrifice local communities. The primary recommendation of the study is for more inclusive environmental governance that centres on the voices of affected populations, notably, and for literature to be more actively engaged in advocacy and environmental discourse.