Environmental Stewardship and Indigenous African Philosophies: Implications for Schooling and Health Education in Africa: A Case of Ghana

In the last 50 years, the pursuance of alternative discourses that would provide alternative solutions to the growing environmental challenges facing the African continent such as pollution poor sanitation, deforestation, desertification, erosion, and degradation have significantly increased. In line with such efforts, the main objective of this project is to identify the prospects and potentials inherent in Indigenous African perspectives on environmental stewardship and their usefulness in mitigating these challenges in Africa. This work, therefore, explores the numerous environmental stewardship ideas contained in proverbs, music, visual arts, adages, 'Ananse' stories and poems, in some Indigenous communities from Ghana; while at the same time, examining the impact of Westernization on the social, political, economic and cultural orientations of Indigenous environmental stewardship practices in traditional communities. The study involved five local communities within the Greater Accra and Eastern regions of Ghana. Over five months, 70 participants from Accra, Amamole, Pantang, Aburi and Nsawam were sampled for the research. Using one-on-one interviews, focus group discussions, semi structured questionnaires and observations; the sampled individuals shared cultural practices, beliefs and norms around environmental stewardship. Results of the study showed that almost all Indigenous communities developed complex systems that guided their existence and well-being. These systems were enshrined in sets of intricate relationships that existed between both humans and non-humans. These relations were regulated by sets of practices, norms and beliefs, which are mostly imbedded in African Traditional Religion (ATR). Thus Indigenous Ghanaian environmental stewardship reflected vital cultural and societal values such as responsibility, accountability, reciprocity, spirituality, and harmony. Three main African environmental ethics were established; first; interconnection and interdependence; second, environmental spirituality; and third, respect for authority. The study concluded with proposed changes in the Ghanaian education and health systems based on these ethics and other important local practices. Significant was the inclusion of local languages and local teaching methodologies in the classroom as well as health institutions. As an exploratory research, the results are capable of producing very well-founded cross-contextual generalities such as localized school curricula, localized health education and policies, which could be adapted for other Indigenous African nations.Ph.D.2018-06-14 00:00:0