Ochendo: An African Journal of Innovative Studies

Irregular migration has become a significant concern in contemporary African literature due to its devastating psychological and socio-economic consequences. This study examines the trauma of irregular migration in Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo's Trafficked and Ndubuisi George's Woes of Ikenga through the lens of Trauma Theory. Drawing on the theoretical insights of Cathy Caruth and Judith Herman, the study adopts a qualitative textual analysis to explore how the selected novels represent the psychological aftermath of trafficking, displacement, exploitation, imprisonment, and social exclusion. The analysis reveals that irregular migration inflicts enduring psychological trauma manifested through fear, shame, intrusive memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, and fractured identities. While Trafficked foregrounds the traumatic experiences of trafficked women, Woes of Ikenga exposes the psychological consequences of failed migratory aspirations and racial marginalization. The study argues that the selected novels portray migration not merely as physical mobility but as a deeply traumatic experience with lasting effects on migrants' mental well-being and identity. It concludes that Trauma Theory provides an effective framework for understanding the enduring psychological costs of irregular migration in contemporary Nigerian fiction and contributes to ongoing scholarship on migration narratives in African literature.

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