Studies in green: teaching ecological crime fiction

Crime and detective fictions are inherently concerned with the ways in which ambiance, cultural geographies and place attachments may be factors in the instigation and detection of crime. Through readings of classic detective stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and recent Niger Delta petrofictions, this chapter explores ways of teaching those crime narratives which have pushed further, forcing detectives and readers to think beyond human dramas and to explore the roles that environmental factors, agencies and crises play in human transgression. Bringing ecocritical perspectives into the teaching of crime fiction may be challenging, but can engage students in some of the most demanding ethical, aesthetic and political questions of our time