Foliage and Fog: Uncanny Petrocultures in Tash Aw’s We, the Survivors and Helon Habila’s Oil on Water

EcoGothic studies has, so far, primarily focused on uncanny environments imagined by Western writers. In response, this article compares polluted, haunting in two contemporary Anglophone novels from the Global South: Tash Aw’s We, Survivors(2019) and HelonHabila’s Oil Water(2011). Through vivid representations of forbidding jungles Malaysian palm oil plantations toxic waters oil-rich Niger Delta, both render extractive economies palpable monstrous. This essay analyses how dystopian atmospheres, fragmented first-person narration, circular crime fictions contribute to aesthetic novels. Re-focusing scholarly attention dark woods Europe North America decaying mangroves across Asia Africa foregrounds ruinous aftermath imperialism neoliberal capitalism. By examining Aw Habila’s novels, sheds new light neglected effects South petrofiction.