Rainmaking rituals: Song and dance for climate change in the making of livelihoods in Africa

Ombati, Mokua

doi:10.4314/ijma.v1i10.3

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Anthropologists have long regarded rituals as a means to control anxieties (Homans, 1941;Malinowski, 1948;Radcliffe-Brown, 1939). Ethnographers argue that rain rituals can be used to reduce fears and anxieties about drought (Akong'a, 1987;Danfulani & Haruna, 1998;Kenyatta, 1938;Ombati, 2017). In Mozambique, for example, the Tsongan rain song that includes the refrain "We are longing for the rain; Wet rain, come" (Junod, 1927, p. 434) is interpreted as "an anxiety-reducing mechanism" for coping with environmental uncertainties (Johnston, 1979,p.…”

Section: Background: Lines Of Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Water and mental health

2020

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There is a well‐established connection among water quality, sanitation, and physical health. The potentially important relationship between water and mental health is considerably less studied. Reviewing evidence from ethnography, geography, folklore, indigenous studies, rural medicine, drought research, and large‐n statistical studies, we argue there is now good theoretical rationale and growing evidence of water insecurity as a possible driver of mental ill‐health. Furthermore, some nascent evidence suggests that emotionally meaningful interactions with water might improve mental health outcomes. Leveraging these literatures, we address the many ways in which mental health outcomes are conceptualized and operationalized in water research, including as emotional distress, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, somatic symptoms, and quality of life. We outline arguments supporting seven possible (and likely interlocking) mechanisms that could explain such a relationship: (a) material deprivation and related uncertainty, (b) shame of social failure, (c) worry about health threats, (d) loss of connections to people and places, (e) frustration around opportunity losses and restricted autonomy, (f) interpersonal conflict and intimate partner violence, and (g) institutional injustice or unfairness. However, we explain that as most existing studies are ethnographic, qualitative, or cross‐sectional, a causal relationship between water and mental ill‐health is yet to be confirmed empirically. More research on this topic is needed, particularly given that poorly understood connections may create barriers to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 3 (health) and 6 (water). We further suggest that tracking mental health indicators may provide unique and as‐yet underappreciated insights into the efficacy of water projects and other development interventions. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Water, Health, and Sanitation Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented

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Section: Background: Lines Of Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Water and mental health

2020

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“…We found remarkably few (explicit) reception studies in Africa, perhaps due to the perception in international discourse that climate change is the biggest 21st century development challenge (Ombati, 2017). The largely unquestioned adaptation imperative (Taylor, 2015) might unwillingly lead to a reproduction of old development narratives and doomsday scenarios pertaining to Africa (Roe, 1998, p. 5)-resulting in predominantly problem-solving oriented approaches.…”

Section: Locating Reception: Vulnerability Adaptation and Knowledge Encountersmentioning

confidence: 98%

Climate change reception studies in anthropology

Wit¹,

Haines

2021

WIREs Climate Change

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The past decade has seen increased anthropological attention to understandings of climate change not only as a biophysical phenomenon but also as a discourse that is traveling from international policy making platforms to the rest of the planet. The analysis of the uptake of climate change discourse falls under the emergent subfield of climate change reception studies. A few anthropological investigations identify themselves explicitly as reception studies; others only mention the term with little explanation. Our review discusses a fuller range of anthropological studies and ethnographies from related disciplines that treat climate change as a discursive reality, which is not independent from how it is intimated through close observations of the environment. The following themes emerged: language and expertise; place and vulnerability; modernity, morality, and temporality; alterity and refusal. The review suggests that the interaction of observation and reception is still not well understood, and that there is scope for more systematic methodological and theoretical synthesis, taking lessons into account from geographies of reading and empirical hermeneutics. By exploring the hermeneutical problem of upholding scientific integrity while being open to other ways of knowing, climate change reception studies' emancipatory potential lie in opening up knowledge spaces for multi‐directional and democratic approaches to living (with) climate change. In closing, we propose an interdisciplinary research agenda highlighting the potential generativity of translation as an idiom for theory and praxis relating to how people come to know climate (change)—through both perceptual engagement with the natural world and interpretations of discursive manifestations. This article is categorized under: Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Sociology/Anthropology of Climate Knowledge

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“…The practice enabled to conserve sacred forests as they had a special social function. With regard to this, Ombati (2017) states that in Kenya farmers conduct a ceremony before commencement of planting of crops. In the ceremony, seeds to be planted are subjected to special rituals to ensure good harvest of crops.…”

Section: Ritual Sacrifices On Onset Of Farming and Harvesting Seasonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Likewise, Obert (2014) affirms that IK becomes weak due to deaths of elders who are custodians of traditional functions. Correspondingly, Ombati (2017) insists that elderly women perform rituals to seek gods to create rain. This happens in the village when there is shortage of rain.…”

Section: Effectiveness and Sustainability Of Ik Employed In Conserving Natural Forestmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relevance of indigenous knowledge in conserving natural forests in the face of modernisation: The case of Makete District, Southern Highlands of Tanzania

Sanga

2021

Ghana J. Geography

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In pre-colonial Africa, Indigenous Knowledge (IK) was very effective in conserving natural forests because it was free from the current challenges. Therefore, this paper assesses effectiveness and sustainability of IK in conserving natural forests. It also examines the impact of modernisation on IK. The study employed mixed research methods to triangulate information. Thus, the data were collected through in-depth interview, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), field observation and household survey. The study composed of 242 respondents, of whom 88 respondents participated in in-depth interview and FGDs, whereas 154 respondents participated in a household survey. The study found that IK lost its power hence affecting its effectiveness in conserving natural forests. Modernisation and missionary religion played a central role in weakening the power of IK. It was further found that the relevance and sustainability of IK was questionable because IK faces many challenges, which threaten its existence. Therefore, the study recommends that to ensure the sustainability of IK, there is a need for elders to transfer IK to young generation based on the local environment. It is also imperative for the government to take part in conserving forests owned by clans. This is because IK has lost the power, which contributed in conserving natural forests.

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Rainmaking rituals: Song and dance for climate change in the making of livelihoods in Africa

Cited by 17 publications

References 9 publications

Water and mental health

Water and mental health

Climate change reception studies in anthropology

The relevance of indigenous knowledge in conserving natural forests in the face of modernisation: The case of Makete District, Southern Highlands of Tanzania

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