The Atlantic meets the Mediterranean: Transfluvia in Romeo Oriogun's The Gathering of Bastards.
This essay explores the spiritual, poetic, and political dimensions of water in Romeo Oriogun's The Gathering of Bastards, situating his work within the lineage of post-independence African poets such as Gabriel Okara and Christopher Okigbo. Central to Oriogun's poetics is a ritualistic "river-call"...
| Published in: | Atlantic Studies Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 85 - 99 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Mar2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=191949028&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 191949028 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 14788810 REX jtl: Atlantic Studies issn: 14788810 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 23 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 191949028 10.1080/14788810.2025.2597654 ppf: 85 ppct: 14 formats: tig: atl: The Atlantic meets the Mediterranean: Transfluvia in Romeo Oriogun's The Gathering of Bastards. aug: au: Ajumeze, Henry Obi affil: English Department, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland su: Political science Symbolism African literature Mass migrations LGBTQ+ rights movements Postcolonial literature Animism Spirituality Atlantic Ocean Mediterranean Sea Edo State (Nigeria) sug: subj: Atlantic Ocean Mediterranean Sea Edo State (Nigeria) Political science Symbolism African literature Mass migrations LGBTQ+ rights movements Postcolonial literature Animism Spirituality keyword: African poetry Christopher Okigbo Gabriel Okara Mediterranean Ocean migration Romeo Oriogun The Gathering of Bastards ab: This essay explores the spiritual, poetic, and political dimensions of water in Romeo Oriogun's The Gathering of Bastards, situating his work within the lineage of post-independence African poets such as Gabriel Okara and Christopher Okigbo. Central to Oriogun's poetics is a ritualistic "river-call" to bodies of water, which function both as mythical deities and as sites of existential migration. Drawing on indigenous Edo cosmology and transoceanic migration narratives, Oriogun reconfigures the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas as zones of necropolitics and spiritual invocation. His poetry fuses lyrical spirituality with the violent realities of queer displacement and border-crossing, using water as a metaphor for memory, mourning, and mobility. This essay argues that Oriogun's hydrography constitutes a performative engagement with the ontological and political crises of exile, articulating a post-Anthropocene poetic consciousness. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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