Author(s)

ALEXANDER A. ONWUMERE, HENRY E. MACAUSTIN, CHIKAOHA J. AGOHA

Abstract

This paper examines the digitalization of nomadism and cattle herding in Nigeria, focusing on the sustainable resolution of spatial conflicts in the city, as explored in the Nigerian novel Burning Grass. The Burning Grass is a literary criticism of bad agricultural practices and city abuse. The analysis here is based on the novelist’s perspective that nomadism and the random movement of cows are not only bad agricultural practices, but they also have ecological and environmental disadvantages. The research is predicated upon the prevailing environmental degradation that causes the deterioration of natural resources, violent clashes between herders and their resultant loss of lives and property, as well as the attendant urban spatial conflict caused by the random movement of cows and herders. This research employs the literary theory of ecocriticism, which explores the application of ecological concepts to the study of literature, with a focus on the impact of human actions on the environment. The objectives of the research are to investigate the causal factors for the indiscriminate herding of cows, the ravaging consequences of random movement, the nexus between cattle herding and spatial conflict in the city, and the needs for the digitalization of nomadism and cattle herding in Nigeria for sustainable city, and curb spatial conflict associated with random movement of cows. The researchers recommend, among other solutions, the digitalization of nomadism through ranching as a means to address the socio-cultural, conflictual, ecological, and health challenges associated with itinerant cattle herding.

Keywords

cattle-herding, sustainable city, ecocriticism, environmental degradation, nomadism, ranching, sustainable resolution, spatial conflict