Fw: Re: African Ecology 6: Zambezia

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: FJLamp@aol.com
To: kpmoseley@juno.com
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 11:23:36 EST
Subject: Re: African Ecology 6: Zambezia

Hi, Kay --

Fascinating discussion on nature and African thought.  It's all, of
course,
far out of my field of expertise, but I do have a few brief comments.  1)
I'm
always amused by protestations against the use of "African thought," or
"Temne
thought."  We must always choose a frame for thought if we wish to
describe
it, and we should always be cognizant of the limitations of the frame and
the
anomalies within it.  The same danger exists if we speak of the attitudes
of
"Kambia town," the "family of Kadiatu," or even of Kadiatu herself --
Kadiatu
isn't consistant from one day to the next, and even at any one moment she
is
conflicted.  Yet we defeat our attempt to understand thought if we don't
establish a frame and assume some order -- despite the inherent
disjunction --
within it.

2)  I generally agree that the notion that "the traditional African lives
in
harmony with nature" has been disproved thoroughly.  I'm not sure,
however,
that I would take it to the other extreme, to say that they have been
"hostile" to nature.  I see, as you know, a tension between the poles of
habitation and wilderness in Temne thought, and, although cultured Temne
people think of themselves as living their daily lives within the
"habitation"
sphere, they also see the "wilderness" sphere (in natural as well as
metaphysical terms) as a necessary complement -- one inhabited by
spiritual
beings, possessed of supra-human powers, needed for regeneration in
initiation
procedure, and a source of all kinds of human needs.  One good anecdote
would
be that of carvers I interviewed talking about "sacrificing" to a tree
that
they needed to cut down.  On animals, hunting has always been regulated
by the
chief, and certain animals off-limits; and herders such as the Fulbe may
not
actually process food for their animals, but their entire lives are
devoted to
driving the animals to lands where they can find food.  

Enough for now.  All the best.
Fred