A Critical African Dialectics on the Question of Climate Sustainability

Abstract

The study sought to identify the contradictions, tensions, and possibilities that foreground Africa's indigenous knowledge systems and their potential to inform climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. The qualitative method of dialectics was used to interrogate African traditional cosmologies, mythologies, and philosophies while interjecting the intricate relationships between humans, nature, and the spirit world. The study identified the principle of "ubuntu" (humanity towards others) as an African dialectical nexus, where individual and communal interests intersect with environmental sustainability. The study employed a dialectical approach in its exploration on the relationship between African traditional worldview and climate change sustainability. The study aimed to demonstrate how African traditional worldview in its emphasis on interconnectedness, reciprocity, and reverence for nature, can inform innovative climate change solutions. The findings of the study showed the significance of the African traditional worldview in addressing the complex and somewhat contradictory relationships between climate change, sustainability, and development, while advocating for an all-inclusive approach to the universal quest for climate sustainability.

Keywords: Dialectics, Climate change, Environmental sustainability, traditional African worldview, Humanity, Nature, Conservation