Ukama and African Environmentalism

Abstract

Perhaps it is uncharitable to focus exclusively on ubuntu — which constitutes an improvement on egoism but is still decidedly anthropocentric (see Prozesky 2009: 301) — as exemplifying African ethical attitudes towards animals. According to moral theorists such as Segun Ogungbemi (from Nigeria), Godfrey Tangwa (from Cameroon), Bujo (from the Democratic Republic of Congo), Murove (from Zimbabwe) and Martin Prozesky (from South Africa) (and, building on the work of some of these philosophers, Behrens and Le Grange), Africa has other conceptual resources that might help address questions around direct ethical responsibility regarding nonhuman nature (Ogungbemi 1997; Tangwa 2004; Bujo 2009; Murove 2004, 2008 and 2009; Prozesky 2009; Behrens 2014; Le Grange 2012), resources that involve an extension of the traditional ideas of ‘community’, ‘holism’, ‘relatedness’ and ‘relationality’. Whereas Ogungbemi refers to his favoured perspective as ‘ethics of nature-relatedness’, Tangwa calls his theory ‘eco-bio-communitarianism’. Bujo emphasises African holism, ’solidarity with creation as a whole’ (Bujo 2009:284) and ‘cosmic community’ (Bujo 2009:296), Murove and Prozesky draw on the concept of ukama originating in Zimbabwe (Murove 2004; Murove 2009: 315–316; Prozesky 2009: 302). Le Grange builds on the ideas of Bujo and Murove (Le Grange 2012: 61–62), as does Behrens (with additional inspiration from Tangwa and Metz), who works within both African communitarianism and what he calls ‘African relational environmentalism’ (Behrens 2014).