Indigenous Ways of Creating Environmental Awareness

Case Study from Berekum Traditional Area of Ghana

Authors

  • Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye Univerisity of Cape Coast, Ghana and University of Leeds, UK

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v8i1.46

Keywords:

Berekum Traditional Area, worldview, cosmovision, ritual, Afahye, Yerepra Yadee, Mmebuo, indigenous ecological knowledge

Abstract

The people of Berekum Traditional Area, Brong Ahafo region, Ghana, use their religio-cultural practices to instil and impart traditional ecologi-cal knowledge to their youth. Qualitative methodology research identi?ed the main means by which indigenous ecological knowledge is transmitted to students: proverbs, myths, folktales, and rituals. There is evidence that indigenous methods of imparting ecological knowledge and thereby dealing with environmental problems are facing some chal-lenges that appear to have interfered with their effectiveness. These challenges may be attributed to a change in the people’s worldview resulting from cultural contact and modernity. The ?ndings indicate that indigenous ecological knowledge is a potential resource that can complement scienti?c means of dealing with the region’s environmental problems.

Author Biography

  • Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye, Univerisity of Cape Coast, Ghana and University of Leeds, UK
    Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye is a Senior Lecturer in the Dept.of Religion and Human Values at the University of Cape Coast. He is currently studying for a PhD in the Dept.of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds

References

Akua Donko, Maame. 2009. Personal Communication. 7 March.

Akumfi Ameyaw, Nana. 2012. Personal communication. 5 January.

Anane, Mike. n.d. ‘Implementing Agenda 21: Religion and Conservation in Ghana’. Online: http://www.un-ngls.org/docments/publications.en/agenda21/12.

Appiah Boakye, Philomena. 2011. ‘Forest: Nature at Your Service’. Keynote Address, World Environmental Day Celebration, 5 June.

Asante-Darko, Kwaku. 2006. ‘Ecocriticism and Environmental Knowledge of Asante Oral Traditional Poetry’ (PhD diss., University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa).

Attuquayefio, D.K., and J.N. Fobil. 2005. ‘An Overview of Biodiversity Conservation in Ghana: Challenges and Prospects’, West African Journal of Applied Ecology l.7: 1-18.

Awuah-Nyamekye, Samuel. 2009. ‘Salvaging Nature: The Akan Religio-Cultural Perspective’, Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology 13.3: 251-82. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/136352409X12535203555713.

———. 2012a. ‘Belief in Sasa: Its Implications for Flora and Fauna Conservation in Ghana’, Nature and Culture 7.1: 1-15. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/nc.2012.070101.

———. 2012b. ‘Totemism, “Akyeneboa” and Plant Ethics’, PAN: Philosophy, Activism, Nature 9: 5-10.

Awuah-Nyamekye, Samuel, and Paul Sarfo-Mensah. 2011. ‘Ensuring Equitable Distribution of Land in Ghana: Spirituality or Policy? A Case Study from the Forest-Savanna Agroecological Zone of Ghana’, International Indigenous Policy Journal 2.4. Online: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/iipj/vol2/iss4/9.

Bascom, William A. 1965. ‘The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narrative’, Journal of American Folklore 78.307: 3-20. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/538099.

Benneh, Kwaku.1990. ‘History of Berekum: Political, Economical and Social Aspects’. Unpublished Paper, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.

Berekum Municipal Heath Report. 2007. Unpublished Document.

Berkes, Fikret. 2012. Sacred Ecology (New York: Routledge, 3rd edn).

Berkes, F., J. Colding, and C. Folke. 2000. ‘Rediscovery of Traditional Ecological Knowledge as Adaptive Management’, Ecological Applications 10.5: 1251-62. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2000)010[1251:ROTEKA]2.0.CO;2.

Bernard, H.R. 2002. Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods (Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 3rd edn).

Biernacki, P., and D. Waldorf. 1981. ‘Snowball Sampling: Problems and Techniques of Chain Referral Sampling’, Sociological Methods & Research 10.2: 141-63.

Bonny, E., and F. Berkes. 2008. ‘Communicating Traditional Environmental Knowledge: Addressing the Diversity of Knowledge, Audiences and Media Types’, Polar Record 44.230: 243-53.

Brook, R.K., and S.E. McLachlan. 2008. ‘Trends and Prospects for Local Knowledge in Ecological and Conservation Research and Monitoring’, Biodiversity and Conservation 17.14: 3501-12. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9445-x.

Butler, C. 2004. ‘Researching Traditional Ecological Knowledge for Multiple Uses’, Canadian Journal of Native Education 28.1/2: 33.

Byers, B.A., R.N. Cunliffe, and A.T. Hudak. 2001. ‘Linking the Conservation of Culture and Nature: A Case Study of Sacred Forests in Zimbabwe’, Human Ecology 29.2: 187-218. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1011012014240.

Chapman, P.M. 2007. ‘Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Scientific Weight of Evidence’, Marine Pollution Bulletin 54: 1839-40. Doi : http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.10.033.

Danquah, J.B. 1928. Akan laws and Customs and the Akyim Abuakwa Constitution (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Dixon, R.B., George D. Bouma, and G.B.J. Atkinson. 1987. A Handbook of Social Science Research (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Effah Mensah, Stephen. 2012. Personal Communication. 27 January.

Faugier, J., and M. Sargeant. 1997. ‘Sampling Hard-to-Reach Populations’, Journal of Advanced Nursing 26: 790-97. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.1997.00371.x.

Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). 2010. Online: www.statsghana.gov.gh.

Gonese, C. 1999. ‘Culture and Cosmovision of Traditional Institutions in Zimbabwe’, in Haverkort and Hiemstra 1999: 155-62.

Hart, Michael Anthony. 2010. ‘Indigenous Worldviews, Knowledge, and Research: The Development of an Indigenous Research Paradigm’, Indigenous Journal for Social Work 1.1: 1-16.

Haverkort, B., and W. Hiemstra (eds.). 1999. Food for Thought: Ancient Visions and New Experiments of Rural People (London: Zed Books).

Ikenga-Metuh, Emefie. 1985. African Religions in Western Conceptual Schemes (Ibadan, Nigeria: Pastoral Institute).

Kemmis, S. 1980. ‘The Imagination of the Case and the Invention of the Study’, in Huffman Simons (ed.), Towards a Science of the Singular (Norwich: CARE): 93-142.

Kwabena Wusu, Nana. 2011. Interview. 12 October, Nana Takyiwa’s palace, Senase.

Kyere Kwame, Opanyin Kwame. 2011. Personal Communication. 6 November.

Levi-Strauss, Claude. 1995. Myth and Meaning (New York: Schocken Books).

Lewis, J.L., and S.R.J. Sheppard. 2006. ‘Culture and Communication: Can Landscape Visualization Improve Forest Management Consultation with Indigenous Communities?’, Landscape and Urban Planning 77: 291-313. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2005.04.004.

Maathai, Wangari. 2011. ‘Spiritual Environmentalism: Healing Ourselves by Replenishing the Earth’. Online: http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/wangari-maathai-spiritual-environmentalism-healing-ourselves-byreplenishing-the-earth.

Mbiti, J.S. 1969. African Religions and Philosophy (London: Heinemann).

McCaskie, Tom C. 1995. State and Society in Pre-colonial Ashanti (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

McDowell, John. 1998. ‘Perspectives on “What Is Myth?”’, Folklore Forum 29.2: 75-89.

McLeod, Malcolm D. 1981. The Ashanti (London: British Museum).

Mercy, Maame. 2012. Personal Communication. 2 January.

Millar, D. 1999. ‘Traditional African Worldviews from a Cosmovision Perspective’, in Haverkort and Hiemstra 1999: 155-62.

Millar, David, and Bertus Havertkort. 2006. ‘African Knowledges and Sciences: Understanding and Supporting the Ways of Knowing in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in David Millar, Stephen Bugu Kendie, Agnes Atia Apusigah, and Bertus Haverkort (eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on African Knowledges and Sciences, 23–29 October 2005, Bolgatanga U/R Region, Ghana (Barneveld, Netherlands: BDU): 8-11.

Mkhize, N. 2004. ‘Psychology: An African Perspective’, in K. Ratele, N. Duncan, D. Hook, N. Mkhize, P. Kiguwa, and A. Collins (eds.), Self, Community and Psychology (Cape Town: UCT Press): 1-29.

Myers, R.N. 2000. ‘Qualitative Research and the Generalizability Question: Standing Firm with Proteus’, The Qualitative Report 4.3/4. Online: http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR4-3/myers.html.

Naess, Arne. 1973. ‘The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement’, Inquiry 16: 95-100. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00201747308601682.

Ntiamoa-Baidu, Yaa. 1991. ‘Conservation of Coastal Lagoons in Ghana: The Traditional Approach’, Landscape and Urban Planning 20: 41-46.

———. 2008. ‘Indigenous Beliefs and Biodiversity Conservation: The Effects of Sacred Groves, Taboos and Totems in Ghana for Habitat and Species Conservation’, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture 2.3: 309-26.

Nugteren, Albertina. 2009. ‘From Cosmos to Commodity and Back: A Critique of Hindu Environmental Rhetoric in Educational Programmes’, in Cathrien de Pater and Irene Dankelman (eds.), Religion and Sustainable Development Opportunities and Challenges for Higher Education (Berlin: LIT Verlag): 159-68.

Nwosu, P.U. 2010. ‘The Role of Okonko Society in Preserving Igbo Environment’, Journal of Human Ecology 31.1: 59-64.

Omare Gisege, Simon. 2010. Religion and Environment Conservation: Role of Isukha Religious Beliefs and Practices in the Conservation of Kakamega Forest, Kenya (N.p.: Lambert Academic Publishing).

Opoku, K.A. 1978. West African Traditional Religion (Accra, Ghana: FEP).

Parrinder, G. 1961. West African Religion: A Study of the Beliefs and Practices of Akan, Ewe, Yoruba, Ibo and Kindred Peoples (London: Epworth Press).

Patten, Simon N. 1911. The Social Basis of Religion (New York: Macmillan).

Rattray, R.S.1923. Religion and Art in Ashanti (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

———. 1959. Ashanti (London: Oxford University Press).

Rose, D., D. James, and C. Watson. 2003. Indigenous Kinship with the Natural World in New South Wales (Sydney: New South Wales National Park and Wildlife Services).

Schoffeleers, J.M. (ed.). 1978. Guardians of the Land: Essays on Central African Territorial Cults (Harare, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press).

Sessions, G. (ed.). 1995. Deep Ecology for the Twenty-first Century (Boston: Shambhala).

Sinha, Subir, Shubhra Gururani, and Brian Greenberg. 1997. ‘The “New Traditionalist” Discourse of Indian Environmentalism’, Journal of Peasant Studies 24.3: 65-99. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03066159708438643.

Slikkerveer, L. Jan. 1999. ‘Ethnoscience, “TEK” and its Application to Conservation’, in Darrel Addison Posey (ed.), Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity (Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environmental Programme, Intermediate Technology Publications): 169-80.

Smith, E.A., and M. Wishnie. 2000. ‘Conservation and Subsistence in Small-Scale Societies’, Annual Review of Anthropology 29: 493-524. Doi: ttp://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.29.1.493.

Taringa, Nisbert. 2006. ‘How Environmental Is African Traditional Religion?’, Exchange 35.2: 191-214. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157254306776525672.

Taylor, Bron. 2010. Dark Green Religion: Nature, Spirituality and the Planetary Future (Berkeley: University of California Press).

Tomalin, Emma. 2002. ‘The Limitations of Religious Environmentalism for India’, Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture and Ecology 6.1: 12-30.

Tucker, Mary Evelyn, and John Grim. 2009. ‘Overview of World Religions and Ecology’. Online: http://fore.research.yale.edu/religion/.

Turner, Victor. 1969. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (New York: Aldine de Gruyter).

Warren, D.M. 1986. The Akan of Ghana: An Overview of the Ethnographic Literature (Accra: Pointer).

Yaw Nkrumah, Nana. 2011. Personal communication. 2 November.

Published

2014-06-03

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Awuah-Nyamekye, S. (2014). Indigenous Ways of Creating Environmental Awareness: Case Study from Berekum Traditional Area of Ghana. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 8(1), 46-63. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v8i1.46