PROFILES OF SEX -TRAFFICKING AND VICTIMHOOD IN DARKO’S BEYOND THE HORIZON AND UNIGWE’S ON BLACK SISTER’S STREET

Edith Abisola Awogu-Maduagwu, O. Funmilayo

Abstract


This article is a study on the profile of Sex trafficking and Victimhood in the African novel, using Amma Darko’s Beyond the Horizon and Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sister’s Street as case studies. The choice of the authors is aimed at revealing the viewpoints from two different societies to make for a wider picture of sex trafficking practices. The choice of two female authors also gives a different view of a problem that affects fellow women. The Reader Response Theory is adopted for a comparative analysis of the phenomenon in the selected texts. This work is a textual analysis of Beyond the Horizon and On Black Sister’s Street as primary texts while the internet, reviews, articles, books and the library serve as additional resources. Findings reveal that both authors utilized different styles of writing to portray the condition of abuse and exploitation of African women as well as the motivations behind sex trafficking in their individual societies. This study sheds more light on the tragic personality alterations that affect human trafficking victims, resulting in the victim’s compliance to trade their bodies for money. The debate over women's abuse is not new, but this study sheds more light on existing fictional portrayal of the problem through more graphic accounts of the extent to which African women have been harmed.


Keywords


Sex trafficking, Victimhood, Women, Exploitation, Victims, Fiction

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