The Environmental and Social History of African Sacred Groves: A Tanzanian Case Study

Abstract

Abstract:Sacred groves figure prominently in efforts to create community-based conservation in Africa. Although they are often conceptualized in functionalist terms as relics of climax forest and peak cultural florescence, attention to the intersections of ecological and social dynamics offers a framework for understanding African sacred groves that avoids assumptions of steady states of habitat and culture. This article, based on a case study from the North Pare Mountains of northeastern Tanzania, demonstrates that the sacredness of these groves is embedded in social institutions, and that the deeply contested nature of these meanings produces African landscapes. It concludes that sacred groves, as examples of cultural and ecological co-evolution, require research based on hybrid social and natural scientific methods. The implication for conservation policy is that sacred groves are not simply local forms of conservation, and that their management demands cooperation among local, national, and global institutions.

Iron Production in North Pare, Tanzania: Archaeometallurgical and Geoarchaeological Perspectives on Landscape Change

“…These areas tend to be subject to hotter and drier conditions and more extreme seasons, thus making these areas less suitable for cultivation. Mwanga, for example, sits in the rain shadow to the west of the Pare hills (Sheridan 2009), making it less preferable for farming than other Pare regions. This would have left the highland areas-characterised by more amenable conditions (pleasant climate, reliable rainfall and perennially available water), defensible positions and reduced occurrences of diseases such as malaria (Håkansson 1995)-free to be exploited for living and farming.…”

Ecosystem services from southern African woodlands and their future under global change

“…Such belief systems are ‘profoundly ecological’ [ 108 ], and sacred groves have high cultural significance in many areas of southern Africa as grave sites and the dwelling places of powerful ancestral spirits [ 109 ]. Areas of woodland are used as grave sites in rural Malawi [ 110 ], while in Tanzania, sacred groves are used for initiating new community members and help to signify long-term land tenure [ 111 ]. Individual tree species may also have ritual importance: in many parts of Zimbabwe, Parinari curatellifolia is used to communicate with the ancestors and for the annual rainmaking ceremony [ 112 ], while Pseudolachnostylis maprouneifolia is considered sacred in southern Tanzania [ 113 ].…”

Community Conservation and the (Mis)appropriation of Taboo

“…In contrast, anthropologists emphasize that fady — far from being static relics that trace back to a ‘traditional’ past — are ‘constantly being established, abolished, and transformed within Malagasy societies’ (Sodikoff, : 73). Instead of thinking of fady or taboos as eroding, it is more productive to regard them as continuously shifting with changing times (Muttenzer, ; Sheridan, ; Tengö and von Heland, ). Indeed, the ability of taboos to respond to larger cultural contexts is in part what makes them an effective, enduring and powerful cultural force (Golden and Comaroff, ; Nyamweru and Sheridan, ).…”