Eco-Identity in Children’s Literature: Ben Okri’s ‘Every Leaf a Hallelujah’ through Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Framework

Abstract

With ecosystems facing unprecedented anthropocentric threats, it is crucial to empower children to develop an eco-identity. Such awareness stresses the need to equip children to become change agents in the fight to achieve an ecocentric future. Creating an ecocentric future entails providing opportunities for children to constructively process the environmental realities of the Anthropocene. This is achieved through children's literature, which serves as a formative medium for developing eco-awareness and equipping children as members of society to speak out for the environment. This study analyses how ecological narratives drive children’s eco-identity and consciousness using Ben Okri’s ‘Every Leaf a Hallelujah’. This study employs qualitative content analysis and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory to explore how the various systems combine to shape children’s eco-identity. The findings reveal that the text is a rich source of eco-literary narrative. It clearly frames the child not merely as a passive observer but an active participant in the collective responsibility towards ecological preservation. The findings demonstrate that children’s literature can reimagine the human-nature relationships and affirm that children’s literature can cultivate eco-identity, promote ecological awareness, and nurture an ecocentric generation.