Endogenous Environmental Conservation Awareness in Sangu Oral Tales

Abstract

African culture is a rich reservoir of varying degrees of information. It encompasses unique knowledge originating from within Africa, which is reflected in its people’s traditions and customs. This knowledge engrafts and provides solutions to a myriad of problems. Among others, it provides solutions to compelling environmental challenges like land degradation, water and air pollution, global warming and climate change. This paper presents a textual analysis of five (5) Sangu oral tales that represent ecological knowledge and practices of the Sangu people. This is done as a way to unriddle the ongoing environmental enigma in the Usangu plain, and the world at large. The tales under scrutiny are: Umutwa na Avatambule Vaakwe (‘The Chief and His Sub-chiefs’); iNjokha wiita Nguluvi (‘Snakes like God’); Munego (‘A Trap’); iJungwa Sikhandi Vaanu (‘Elephants Were Once Human Beings’); and Amagulu ga Nguluvi (‘The Feet of God’). A total of twenty (20) tales were collected qualitatively through one-on-one in-depth interviews with Sangu storytellers; and then through content analysis method: all of which found the five aforementioned tales fit for the subject matter. The results show that the telling of the oral stories is not just an occasion but also a display of skills and knowledge of a particular people, and that the solutions to the current global environmental crisis lie in people’s traditions as expressed in their environment-related oral narratives.