The City As Site Of Identity Contestation: A Psycogeographic Reading Of Henry Akuibiro’s Prodigals In Paradise

This paper investigates how Henry Akuibiro’s Prodigals in Paradise dramatise the psychological and emotional impact of geographical spaces on characters navigating mobility and urban transformation. It also explores how the authors engage with the city as a muse to explore crises in human relationships, identity and morality. The paper adopts a qualitative methodology in the analyses of some extrapolations from the texts, using psychogeography as its theoretical framework. These theoretical approaches enable an exploration of how spatial environments shape consciousness, behaviour, and social interaction, particularly within the complexities of postcolonial Nigerian urban centres. The paper reveals that the city space is portrayed as more than a setting, acting as a muse and affecting the characters’ decisions, interactions and emotional state, while also reflecting on broader themes of spatial alienation, cultural dislocation and fragile negotiation of identity. It further reveals that the chaos that characterise the city fosters a unique resilience in its inhabitants, contributing to the ambivalent depiction of city life both as oppressive and enabling in contemporary Nigerian literature. The paper concludes that the city, as site of exploration in literature is not monolithic, but embodies diverse experiences.