2.3. AN AFRICAN GENDERED ECOLOGICAL INTERPRETIVE MODEL
2.3.1. Guiding principles of an African ecological hermeneutics
An African gendered ecological interpretive model follows the same grid as is used by ecofeminist biblical scholars (Ruether 1996, 2011). Yet, it goes a step further by drawing on resources from indigenous African culture. It also extends the model by adding an analytical tool of demythologisation and demystification of the biblical text. The model emanates from a critical analysis of the principles of ecological hermeneutics proposed by biblical scholars in current ecological debates (Habel 2000a, 2000b, Conradie 2004, 2010, Sintado 2011). It offers an alternative reading of the biblical text, particularly the biblical myths of origin. As Adams (2004:14) observes, biblical texts have multiple voices and are not exhaustively interpreted, even when using various exegetical means. Interpretive models make meaningful contributions when they are “seen in their close interrelationship and interpenetration, as they overlap, reinforce and
24 Masenya (2010) offers an Eco-Bosadi reading of the book of Job.
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complement one another” (Sintado 2011:104). In what follows I offer principles (poles) that constitute an African interpretive model in the ecological crisis.
2.3.1.1. The pole of preferential option for the marginalised (Ababusu).
My mother, my mother what have they done? Crucified you like the Only Son! Murder committed by mortal hand. I weep, my mother, my mother the land (Mary Duroux 1992).
The interpretive model uses the subjugation of women and the natural world as its starting point in the interpretation of the biblical text. This pole of interpretation is in line with the contribution of liberation theologians and social ecologists that poverty and environmental concerns are interrelated (Evia 1991:24). Boff (1997:1) notes that ‘‘the most threatened of nature’s creatures today are the poor”. In sub-Saharan Africa it is the women who make up the majority of the poor people25.
Gustavo Gutierrez (1973:291) argues that ‘‘in the Bible, poverty is a scandalous condition inimical to human dignity and therefore contrary to the will of God’’. He defines the poor as
‘‘the exploited and plundered social class” (Gutierrez 1973:301). In sub-Saharan Africa, the plundered social class consists of women (and children) who have been disempowered by patriarchy and are bearing the brunt of the problems associated with climate change and the ecological crisis. The marginalised include humans who suffer due to gender, racial, ethnic and religious categories of oppression. Further, the marginalised are not analysed outside the complex interrelationship with the natural world.
The hermeneutical pole may for instance enable the reader of the biblical myths of origin to read the text from the perspective of a marginalised woman who is a peasant farmer in sub-Saharan
25 In Africa women and children bear the burden of the effects of the global economic downturn and climate change.
See the report of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
http://www.cpahq.org/cpahq/cpadocs/Feminization_of_Poverty.pdf. Accessed 10/09/14.
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Africa and who is struggling to grow crops for survival due to the scarcity of rains. For such a woman, rain, garden and land (’adamah) mean a place of life rather than a place of prohibitions.
The reader of the text may also read from the perspective of dry and cracking land that needs water in order to produce vegetation (Gen 2). In so doing, the reader reads along the grains of Earth as a marginalized Mother.
2.3.1.2. The pole of interrelationships (Mukowa)
The pole of interrelationship articulates the belief that the wellbeing of a person is dependent on other human beings (man and woman), earth-beings and earth-mysteries26. It emphasises respect for the value of God’s creation. In the African worldview, the natural world and all that is part of God’s creation do not only have intrinsic value, but they are part of the family in the household of God (oikos) in an ecological community (ecodome). Therefore, there are strict taboos that regulate human control of natural resources (Sorensen 1993:1, Colson 2006). In essence this pole summarises all the hermeneutical principles proposed by the Earth Bible project affirming that the earth has intrinsic worth/value, the inter-connectedness of life, the principle of voice, the principle of purpose, mutual custodianship and resistance (Habel 2000b).
The pole engages with the web of reciprocal relations in the household of God (oikos) in which subject and object are indistinguishable. In an African worldview, life that excludes dependence on the natural world, fellow human beings and earth-mysteries such as ancestors, is almost unthinkable. It would in any case contradict the foundations of an African ethic of interrelatedness of life. It can be argued that the observation of Hassel and Ruether (2000:xxxvi) that ‘‘all beings on earth make up one household (oikos), which benefits from an economy (oikonomia) that takes ecological and social stewardship (oikonomos) seriously” was long ago made by Africans.
26Scientists have shown that every molecule of oxygen in the planet comes from plants. This oxygen is completely recycled by living organisms every two thousand years. See Birch (1993:18).
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The hermeneutical pole may enable the reader of the biblical text to read from the perspective of the interrelatedness of life rather than from an exalted portrayal of man’s place in God’s creation.
The biblical myths of origin affirm that all life is interrelated and should not be used as a tool to separate God from creation or to separate women and non-human forms of life from the rest of creation. This hermeneutical pole recognises that the history of interpretation has been shaped by anthropocentric views that regarded non-human forms of life as inferior. Furthermore, the Earth has been looked at as a controlled or mechanical structure consisting of independent parts.
However, as Hefner (1995:121) puts it, humans are “indissolubly part of nature, fully natural”.
Each species and each member of each species is connected by complex webs of interrelationships. Humans, too, are dependent on trees, air and the wide diversity of life that exists in nonhuman domains on Earth.
Various communities among the Tonga have one totem or another that is protected from any kind of harmful overture from the natives. In that way the lives of people and of certain animals have been protected over the years. This practice, coupled with customs involving sacrifice and adoring, result in the preservation of nature. Africans attach ritualistic importance to nonhuman creation. Their view is, as they see it, ecocentric. Judo (1939:112) notes:
Totemism shows well one characteristic of the Bantu mind: the strong tendency to give a human soul to animals, to plants, to nature as such, a tendency which is at the very root of the most beautiful blossoms of poetry, a feeling that there is a community of substance between various forms of life.
Arguably, African indigenous culture may be characterised as friendly and open to the environment and the cosmos whereas a western dominated worldview takes a patriarchal and aggressive attitude towards nature which is the main reason for the present ecological crisis (Spijker 1994:90). Africans believe that order and cohesion can only be achieved when there is a
“good relationship” between human beings and all the powers that are perceived as existing in the environment. From the perspective of Africans this web of relationships includes God, human beings, ancestors, ritual animals, plants, nonhuman objects and special places.
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Indigenous Tonga people know what it means to revere nature as sacred. This is very evident in the attitudes of adherents of indigenous culture towards the earth and all that lives on it. As Mbiti (1979:48) observes, Africans believe that natural phenomena and objects are intimately associated with God. Thus, the well-being of human beings is intimately connected with the wellbeing of the total of creation. If human beings neglect the natural world, the consequences affect the order of God’s creation in its entirety. It is for this reason that Mbiti (1977:31) observes that, if human beings abuse nature, nature will abuse them. It is true that human exploitation of the natural world has resulted in natural disasters in different parts of the world.
Indigenous African culture puts restrictions in place to control the abuse of the natural world.
2.3.1.3. The pole of demythologisation and demystification (Ukusefulula/ ukwilula)
In African culture any myth or folklore contains a moral teaching. The words used are usually symbolic (cf. Rasing 1995, Kangwa 2011, Richards 1982). The listener is expected to tease out the meaning from the myth and the words used (ukwilula). In the same way, the biblical text is characterized by a plurality of voices and a discernable ideo-theological diversity. Biblical writers represent different views depending on their social location, historical period and religio- political interests. Thus, it is not surprising to find in the text patriarchal and hierarchical cultural tendencies. Furthermore, the bible is a collection of literary texts, myths, folklores, sagas and legends that emerge from a people that were often the subjects of powerful empires such as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Rome (Dube 2000:15-16). The bible was later appropriated and used by western imperial powers as an instrument of domination of colonised subjects and of the natural world.
The pole of demystification recognises that the bible was initially a product of people who were on the periphery of the social strata in the ANE. Patriarchal ideologies in the text are social constructs. The task of the hermeneutic is to identify and decode such patriarchal social and religio-political constructs. As Bookchin (1982:41) observes, the effects of climate change and the ecological crisis ‘‘are too serious and the possibilities too sweeping to be resolved by customary modes of thought”. Thus, the pole uses the heuristic tool of suspicion (Fiorenza 1985) to detect patriarchal ideologies in the production of the biblical text, its reception and its
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appropriation in the contemporary context. The pole is also critical of patriarchal centralised political power that has proven to have devastating effects on women, children and nonhuman nature.
2.3.1.4. The pole of responsibility and care for life (Ubuntu)
Reflecting on the responsibility of human beings to care for the environment, Clare Palmer (1992:74) notes:
The perceptions of stewardship have great difficulty in accommodating the idea of God’s action or presence in the world. God is understood to be an absentee landlord, who has put humanity in charge of his possessions... Within the framework of this model, God’s actions and presence are largely mediated through humans… God the Master leaves man in charge of his garden.
This principle reflects on the role of human beings in the earth community and on what it takes to be truly human (ubuntu). Ubuntu is a Tonga word expressing the belief that one is a human being through others. The principle of ubuntu articulates a basic respect and compassion for other human beings, nonhuman forms of life and ancestors or earth-mysteries (cf. Ramose 1999:49). In a Tonga matrilineal society, it is a sign of ubuntu to respect women. For this reason abuse of women in marriage is strongly discouraged (Colson 2006)27.
This hermeneutical pole seeks to identify and challenge ideologies of domination and exploitation as represented by the domination of humans by humans, domination of women by men and the domination of the natural world by humans. The assumption is that the domination of nature by humans has developed as a result of the domination of humans by humans (cf.
Ruether 1996, Sintado 2011:108). The hermeneutical pole engages with the notion of responsible stewardship which has contributed to the marginalisation of the natural world by retaining anthropocentrism and a hierarchy of power that is based on an economic model of the ancient
27 In indigenous Tonga culture, if a woman died in labour the husband was accused of adultery. Such a person was ostracised from the community. See Colson (2006), Scudder (1962).
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world (Habel 1998). As Hall (1990:41) observes, the steward (oikonomos) has responsibility for the planning and putting in order (nomos) of the affairs of the household (oikis). Thus, the steward is responsible for the economy (oikonomia) of the house. In this way, the model maintains an elevated portrayal of humans in the household of God. This view is contrary to the African ethic of what it takes to be human (ubuntu). The African worldview is succinctly captured in the following words of George Tinker (1992:147).
The circle is a key symbol for self-understanding, representing the whole universe and our part in it. We see ourselves as coequal participants in the circle, neither standing above nor below anything in God’s creation. There is no hierarchy in our cultural context, even of species, because the circle has no beginning or ending.
The principle of responsibility and care for life helps the reader of the biblical text to view humans as equal partners with other members of the earth community. In this way an ethic of responsibility and care for life is promoted.
It has been observed that a patriarchal biblical interpretation which is predominantly western does not address the central values of African communities (Ukpong 2000, Dube 2000). The western context in which patriarchal modes of biblical interpretation were framed was nationalistic and closed to other cultures. Ideologically therefore, Christians who were conditioned by western philosophies found it hard to negotiate racial and cultural differences in non-western contexts. In addition to the oppression of the majority, western Christianity has promoted individualism, uncontrolled competition and exploitation of women and the natural world.
However, a life-giving interpretation of the biblical myths of origin recognises the respect and harmony defining the non-material order that exists in humans and among them. Such an interpretation fosters human respect for fellow human beings and for non-human forms of life.
Unlike a predominantly western way of interpretation, an African indigenous way of reading the bible should integrate African values and systems that support the interrelatedness of humans and non-human forms of life. Enslin and Horsthemke (2004:548) contest the concept of ubuntu:
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Ubuntu as a philosophical approach to social relationships must stand alongside other approaches and must be judged on the value it can add to better human relations in our complex society… The refusal to acknowledge the similarity between Ubuntu and other humanistic philosophical approaches is in part a reflection of the parochialism of
…Africans and a refusal to learn from others.
Enslin and Horsthemke (2004:548) further contend that the concept of ubuntu cannot support the value of nature as it exclusively focuses on human beings. On this basis they dismiss the concept as speciesist. Nonetheless, the concept of ubuntu (what it takes to be human) does not focus on humans as superior beings as Enslin and Horsthemke (2004:548) assert. The concept emphasises that violation of harmonious relationships between humans and other members of the Earth community can result in social and ecological problems such as droughts and climate change.
In contrast to patriarchal capitalist ideologies that value wealth over the plight of women and the natural world, ubuntu accepts the interdependence of humans and nonhuman forms of life. The African values of sharing and community solidarity are some of the characteristics of the concept of ubuntu. Given that the concept of ubuntu challenges individualism, the African individual and his/her identity remain part of the larger community of humans, ancestors and non-human forms of life who are considered to be all members of the living creation. The basic tenet of ubuntu is aptly captured in the biblical myths of origin where humans, both male and female, share a common humanity (’adamah). The concept promotes the exercise of individual responsibility for the good of the person, for human community and the natural world.
African theologians have realised that concepts of African culture should be used in addressing issues arising from the African context (Ukpong 2000). Thus, African gendered and ecological values in Tonga culture can provide effective conceptual tools for redressing the current ecological crisis. African women theologians and biblical scholars need to present a sustained critique of the ecological crisis. This can be done in conversation with African culture. Human beings are born with the potential of ubuntu which can be realised in relationships with others.
To possess ubuntu is to recognise that one has a place in the web of relationships between humans and non-human forms of life (cf. Battle 1997:44). The potential of ubuntu, inherent in humans, enables them to resist the forces in society which dehumanise.
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The ecological value of the concept of ubuntu is succinctly captured in Desmond Tutu’s words:
When Africans said, “Oh, don’t treat that tree like that, it feels pain” others used to say. “Ah, they are pre-scientific; they are primitive.” It is wonderful now how we are beginning to discover that it is true - that that tree does hurt, and if you hurt the tree, in an extraordinary way, you hurt yourself (Tutu 2004:29).
The relationship between human beings and the natural world should be defined by care. The myths of origin in Genesis 2 remind human beings to treat other forms of life with care. Tutu (2004:29) notes:
Caring as God would - caringly, gently and not harshly and exploitatively, with a deep reverence, for all is ultimately holy ground and we should figuratively take off our shoes for it all has the potential to be “theophanic” - to reveal the divine. Every shrub and by extension every creature has the ability to be a burning bush and to offer us an encounter with the transcendent.
The concept of ubuntu among the Tonga does not provide for an understanding of God, ancestors and Earth mysteries as someone or as something that is transcendent. Rather, God, ancestors and Earth mysteries are present in creation. This understanding clearly underscores that the exploitation of the natural world hurts God and other forms of life. It is for this reason that women bear the brunt of the impact of the ecological crisis and the exploitation of the natural world. The principle of ubuntu as such ought to foster human responsibility for taking care of earth. The principle of ubuntu emphasises that all God’s creatures are interconnected in a sacred web of life.
A solitary person in Africa is considered sub-human. This implies the view that all human beings are part of a network of interdependence with fellow humans and the rest of God’s creation.
Ubuntu emphasises the recognition that on earth life is interdependent. One need to recognise that one’s life is bound up in the lives of others. Santmire (2000:73) summarises the importance of humans supporting life on earth by emphasising that human beings should maintain
“mutuality and cooperation between persons and other creatures of nature” as members of one family. Given that women suffer more than men in the context of the ecological crisis, there is a