African Belief Systems and Gendering of Eco-Justice

• Susan Kilonzo Maseno University

DOI : https://doi.org/10.7833/122-1-2170

Résumé

The African belief system appears to outline concerns and care for the environment, which can form a basis for sustainability. This system also seems to speak to gender roles and responsibilities. The taboo system, for instance, has clear gendered guidelines for human and environmental responsibilities and rights, that appear to be interconnected. A reflection on the African belief system may therefore allow us interrogate and explain the roles of men and women, girls and boys, on climate change, and their response thereto. Since these beliefs and practices are lived side-by-side with modernity, an exploration of gender roles within the belief system may be useful in the overall mainstreaming of the work of men and women in climate change. The article draws from gender perspectives of a few African communities, to show how these perspectives provide varying platforms for addressing or neglecting effects of climate change in the continent, but also how the system affects livelihoods of men and women. Further, the paper explores ways in which the positive approaches can be mainstreamed in state-led approaches to eco-justice for sustainability.