Re-imagining uMakhulu as integral epistemic agents in addressing climate change

Abstract

The long-silenced voices of Black women have slowly emerged as valuable intellectual contributors in environmental spaces; however, uMakhulu (elderly African women) remain overseen. Although uMakhulu are frequently portrayed as vulnerable and marginalised communities in climate change discussions, they are rarely consulted in these conversations. This, we argue, is an effect of patriarchal bias introduced by colonialism and has since been evident in various African contexts, including proverbs. We consider a popular African proverb—mosadi o tshwara tipa ka bogaleng (a woman holds a knife at the dagger’s edge)—and how it influences and normalises the oppression of Black women. This negative connotation of uMakhulu has enabled the disregard of African maternal ways of knowing, thereby silencing African women. Here, we propose a way to re-centralise uMakhulu as an institution of knowledge who can offer meaningful contributions to climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Introduction

Climate change has proven to be a catastrophic global phenomenon which demands the attention of all human inhabitants of Earth. Whether an individual is based in an urban or rural area, they are bound to experience the adverse effects of climate change (Darkhor, 2009). Nevertheless, there is a particular urgency in the African context since, despite the continent’s low contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, it is “the most vulnerable continent to climate change impacts under all climate scenarios above 1.5 degrees Celsius” (African Development Bank Group, 2025, para, 1). The World Meteorological Organisation (2024) states that the disproportionate burden that Africa faces from climate change and adaptation will be evident by 2030, when, unless adequate response measures are put in place, up to “118 million extremely poor people (living on less than US$ 1.90 per day) will be exposed to drought, floods, and extreme heat” (para. 4). The most vulnerable populations are further threatened due to the unequal distribution of resources to deal with these climate-induced crises, such as public expenditure for emergency aid and restoration, across nations (Baer & Singer, 2025).

Several organisations have addressed climate change challenges, such as, but not limited to, the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), established in 1988 (Childress, 2012), the United Nations Environment Programme, established in 1972, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, founded in 2005 and the Climate Action Network, formed in 1989. In such spaces, discussions regarding mitigation and adaptation strategies are frequently established under international and national climate action plans. Amid laudable attempts to develop climate action plans, it is also the case that many vulnerable voices have been marginalised, or, even worse, absent, in the spaces that formulate climate policy. The result of such marginalisation is that in

many countries the sustainability of the natural resource sectors and prospects for community stability and economic growth are put at risk by the absence of effective regulatory institutions, by weak mechanisms for citizen voice, and by indecisive leadership on natural resources and the environment. (Kende-Robb & Van Wicklin, 2008, p. 96)

While multiple vulnerable communities are affected by climate change, and while many of those communities are marginalised in climate change discussions, in this article, we specifically focus on uMakhulu (elderly African women), loosely translating to grandmother in English. It is worth noting that scholars such as Ifi Amadiume (1997) caution against translating Indigenous terms into colonial languages such as English as this opens room for misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the significance and meaning thereof. To mitigate this danger, it is worth noting that uMakhulu extends beyond the western understanding of grandmother, which typically denotes a familial relationship of a parent’s parent. The term uMakhulu denotes more than familial relationship; rather, it is representative of a decolonial understanding of African people’s ways of being—and most importantly recognises the uMakhulu as a significant institution of knowledge and wisdom (Magoqwana, 2018). In the African context, once an individual enters a stage of maturity or seniority, these individuals are noted as uKulu (the great one, the older one)—and if they are women they are known as uMakhulu. Therefore, uMakhulu’s position in society is not aligned exclusively with their familial relationships. Rather, one’s maturity status, which is significantly aligned with wisdom, affords one acknowledgement as uMakhulu—this extended definition of grandmother therefore indicates a fundamental epistemological difference from the western concept of grandmother.

The focus of this article is limited to uMakhulu from sub-Saharan Africa but excludes, due to significant cultural differences, those from North Africa. Our use of the word African, therefore, should be read to be limited to sub-Saharan Africa unless explicitly stated otherwise. Our focus on uMakhulu arises from their routine exclusion from all debates regarding climate change, but also their particular vulnerability, but also resilience, when faced with the effects of climate change.

The exclusion of uMakhulu from climate change discussions has had at least two notable effects. First, it perpetuates their extant oppression, but second, and perhaps more importantly, it sidelines them as epistemic agents and moral educators in sub-Saharan societies. Put differently, they are not only the keepers of environmental knowledge, but they also impart that knowledge to the following generation. Given this, they can be valuable epistemic contributors to climate change mitigation and adaptation discussions.

The neglect of uMakhulu is discussed by Babalwa Magoqwana (2018), in Repositioning uMakhulu as an Institution of Knowledge. Here, she calls for identifying uMakhulu, as “an embodiment of knowledge” (Magoqwana, 2018, p. 86). While Magoqwana (2018) speaks more generally regarding acknowledging uMakhulu as a body of knowledge, this article attempts to answer her call in the specific context of recognising uMakhulu’s potential role as epistemic agents in the fight against climate change. The theoretical framework that is used to comprehend the significance and relevance of uMakhulu as a body of ecological knowledge in the face of climate is Afro-ecofeminism. Afro-ecofeminism, which is discussed in more depth in the next section highlights the historical dual oppression women and nature have had to endure; therefore, this framework can further probe the challenges and oppressive consequences on both nature—the environment through climate change—as well uMakhulu.

There is also a further justification why we focus on this particular group of people—through colonialism, the role of the uMakhulu has been distorted. Socially, colonialism, and the concomitant introduction of capitalism, have disrupted the role of African women, thereby ensuring the social invisibility of African women more generally (Ndlovu, 2008; Nelson, 2003). Colonial powers facilitated the introduction of patriarchal ideologies into their communities, consequently relegating Black African women to voiceless individuals in society deemed fit only for domestic duties, which, in the capitalist order, relegated them to the realm of unpaid labour (Siqwana-Ndulo, 1998). Consequently, the African social expectation and cultural norm of having uMakhulu in leadership positions became eroded through colonialism, with their influence being further diminished through their subsequent lack of economic power.

Nevertheless, and despite the violence of colonialism, uMakhulu still holds a particularly important place. To this day, uMakhulu fulfil many functions outside the routine duties of caring for their households. A study by Janet Michel et al. (2019) on the roles the elderly play in Africa shows that their responsibilities are multifaceted, as uMakhulu play the roles of agriculturalists, family chefs, educators, traditional midwives, and peace mediators, among others. Importantly, uMakhulu plays an integral part in raising grandchildren, and since they often spend the formative years with their grandchildren, they are responsible for much of their moral education. They are considered vital epistemological agents, too; through stories, myths, proverbs, idioms, and songs, they educate the younger generations and pass down knowledge regarding social, political, religious, and, of particular relevance to this article, environmental issues. For these reasons, the focus of this article is on uMakhulu.

Even as authors of this article, writing from different cultural backgrounds on the African continent, a shared experience from our community of uMakhulu has been a similar experience to what Michel and colleagues (2019) have recorded in their own research study. Elderly women in our communities have always been the moral educators, those to instil values and philosophies that have influenced our positions as environmental justice advocates today. Even with their significance in their communities, it has also been apparent that these women have become hypervisibile in relation to communal and environmental burdens, but disappointingly the macro-society simultaneously makes them invisible when there continues to be historical marginalisation reigning from the lack of acknowledgement of their contribution to the functioning of society—particularly as epistemic agents.

This is not to say that elderly African men are not also integral to the functioning of their societies, but these roles fall beyond the scope of this article, the central focus of which is to recentre uMakhulu as epistemic agents who can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaption.

In this article, we argue that, as the world is faced with the effects of climate change, uMakhulu must be rehabilitated as a leader in the fight against climate change, given her role as an epistemic agent and moral educator. Given their perpetually important role in society, they are important allies and should be treated as such when climate mitigation strategies are considered. Consequently, this article has the central aim of examining how recentering uMakhulu as epistemic agents can contribute to climate change mitigation. To support this central aim, we first explore their pre-colonial roles and the subsequent impact of colonialism on these roles. Then, we discuss how they are still relevant agents in today’s efforts in climate change adaptation and mitigation.

A brief note on methodology before we move to the theoretical framework is necessary. This article is a philosophical one and is, therefore, conceptual. While we engage with literature from a variety of disciplines spanning the natural sciences, the social sciences and philosophy in this article, we do so to argue for a central claim, which is that uMakhulu are custodians of environmental knowledge, and so should be harnessed in the fight for climate change. The philosophical approach is thus one that examines complex issues, clarifies concepts, and reflects on topics using argumentation and analysis, and this article should be understood as such.

Theoretical framework

The theory of ecofeminism has a long-standing history ranging from western scholars such as Francoise d’Eaubonne, who coined the term ecofeminisme. Ecofeminism as a theoretical framework set into place to critically analyse the dual subjugation and oppression that women and nature has endured in history (Mies & Shiva, 1993; Salleh, 1997; Warren, 1990). Scholars who use ecofeminism as a lens to interpret ecological matters argue that the degradation and oppression of nature is a feminist issue (Warren, 2014). Climate change and the effects thereof is a feminist issue similarly, perhaps especially, in the rural African context where women, and often uMakhulu, are the primary custodians of land (Wane & Chandler, 2002). However, ecofeminism acknowledges that domination and oppression are context-dependent. An Afro-ecofeminist framework differs from other ecofeminist lenses in that it deals with the particularity of African women. An Afro-ecofeminist theoretical framework is therefore better aligned to consider both the historical and current oppression and domination of African people and women in particular. Per illustration, Nobel peace prize winner and Kenyan environmental scientist, Wangari Maathai influenced and propelled the tenets of African ecofeminism—or, Afro-ecofeminism. Maathai (2004) was concerned about environmental degradation—a consequence of climate change—in the rural outskirts of Kenya. She developed an ecofeminist approach that considered the intersectional factors such as economic, political, and social, that primarily influenced environmental degradation. In her work, Maathai (2004) argued that if environmental issues, including climate change, were to be addressed, then the intersectional factors that contribute to silencing and marginalising of important epistemes in the African context should also be addressed.

Furthermore, Afro-ecofeminism extends the intellectual work of third-world ecofeminist scholars such as Vandana Shiva (1993), who support the arguments that epistemologies of women in the global South (including African) have been marginalised and eroded under the influences of historical events such as colonialism and capitalism. African scholars further contend that there are salient value systems embedded in moral philosophies such as ubuntu and African communitarianism that influence these women-nature connections (Chemhuru, 2018; Konik, 2018). Afro-ecofeminism as a school of thought challenges the historical patterns that have led to environmental consequences like climate change—domination of nature, and marginalisation of essential Indigenous voices (Ojomo, 2010).

Afro-ecofeminism provides insight into women and nature connections. Environmental organisations attending to the vulnerability of African women and climate change challenges such as the Green Belt Movement Foundation in Kenya, established by Maathai (2004) and the WoMin organisation located in South Africa are evidence of the practical application of Afro-ecofeminism. Afro-ecofeminism remains relevant and integral when considering communities such as uMakhulu and their potential epistemological contributions to present climate change challenges. Furthermore, Afro-ecofeminism is important as it advocates for historically silenced epistemes, such as the Indigenous voices of uMakhulu. It is then against this background that we consider how uMakhulu have been decentred and marginalised in climate change discussions, but also how they can be recentred and empowered to contribute to the amelioration of climate change challenges.

The role of pre-colonial uMakhulu in environmental knowledge impartation

To consider recentering, one must first consider what was de-centred. This section, then, considers the role of uMakhulu in pre-colonial Africa. By understanding their role, and, in the next section, examining how that role has been disrupted, we can begin to consider how to go about recentering them, especially in the fight against climate change. Throughout, we provide examples of how, as part of their various societal roles, they were the possessors and imparters of environmental knowledge.

The notion that women, especially uMakhulu, played insignificant roles in pre-colonial societies is mistaken (Moagi & Mtombeni, 2020). This impression might be the result of the history writers of the time, who were mostly colonial missionaries likely aligned with more rigid and oppressive western gender norms. This is not to deny that African societies were not also aligned with patriarchal ways of being, given that low-intensity patriarchy was prevalent in tribal societies in parts of Africa and the Americas (Segato & Monque, 2021). Nevertheless, the writings of colonial missionaries, under the guise of historians and anthropologists, recorded and shared distorted visions of African societies (Bulhan, 2015). Some of these writings have often misleadingly portrayed women as mere passive agents controlled by their fathers and, later, their husbands. This portrayal, however, fails to understand the fundamental underpinnings of African societies during this time.

Pre-colonial societies in Africa were heterarchical, that is, allowing for different authority figures in a more flexible structure (Saidi, 2020). It was, therefore, seniority rather than gender that was honoured (Sudarkasa, 1986). Positions of power and authority were routinely granted to women, showing their valuable contribution to society (Moagi & Mtombeni, 2020). An Asante proverb (Ghana) illustrates the importance of women, as it says, “[i]t’s a woman who gave birth to a man; it’s a woman who gave birth to a chief” (Aidoo, 1981, p. 65). Women were, therefore, politically involved, and their roles extended into religious, economic, and socio-environmental spheres (Saidi, 2020).

The knowledge and wisdom acquired by uMakhulu were used to teach the younger generations about survival. These teachings often included environmental ethics and care for animals (Msuya, 2020). The ecological epistemic contributions of uMakhulu were significant as they generally shaped how tribal members interacted with nature. Norah H. Msuya (2020) states that it is uMakhulu who share the wisdom of being “gentle with animals” (p. 50). By advocating for a respectful relationship with nature and its inhabitants, uMakhulu were the carriers and teachers of essential ecological values that are similar to those currently found in ethics of care in environmental ethics. Knowledge of survival was linked specifically to women’s roles as the primary agriculturists in their communities (Ilife, 1969). As agriculturalists, women’s environmental knowledge, such as understanding the seasonality of crops, was therefore critical in securing the livelihoods of communities (Guyo, 2017). According to Anna Lefatshe Moagi and Butholezwe Mtombeni (2020), women could choose how their agricultural products were shared. A pertinent example of this is still evident among the Vhavenda (an ethnic people living around the South Africa-Zimbabwe border, Southern Africa) where women can openly and freely share their products with friends and neighbours (Moagi & Mtombeni, 2020). This demonstrates that, historically, women were the keepers of environmental knowledge since to be successful, agriculturalists need to have intimate knowledge of their environment.

Similarly, in Botswana, women had full control over labour and agricultural production (Moagi & Mtombeni, 2020). Inevitably, uMakhulu were indispensable carriers of environmental wisdom (Msuya, 2020). Their years of weather-pattern reading and predictions, which ultimately were imparted to uMamncane (younger women) would contribute to venerating these women in society as custodians of environmental knowledge. These women were respected and recognised as integral members of society, especially considering that with the shift to agricultural practices during this time, agricultural knowledge holders were inevitably important members of society. It was not only in the agricultural sphere that women were empowered but also in other activities. For example, women were involved in pottery, livestock production, the production and marketing of traditional herbs, and weaving. As Raji et al. (2013, p. 44) state:

Some of the major forms of economic activities that engaged the attention of women in pre-colonial Ilorin [a city in Western Nigeria] included trading in the form of local and long-distance commercial networks, weaving and dyeing, bead making and jewelry, iron smelting, agriculture, craft works, food processing, pottery and livestock production.

It is, therefore, evident that women were involved in a variety of agricultural and economic—understood in a pre-capitalisation sense, activities that were integral to the functioning of their society. Furthermore, many of these activities demanded an intimate awareness of their biotic surroundings—about droughts and floods, animal husbandry, plant health, and food production.

Furthermore, women also had religious and spiritual responsibilities. A shared ontology is prevalent in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa which sees a circular connection between the physical and spiritual realms. The idea is that these two realms are interconnected, and harmony can be achieved through the assistance of mediators—commonly diviners, many of whom were women (Redding, 2016). Women were favoured in acquiring religious and spiritual positions in society as they were deemed as inherently being closer to God by being able to create life through pregnancy and giving birth (Callister & Khalaf, 2010; Ogbomo & Ogbomo, 1995; Redding, 2016; Rosenberg, 2020). The exercise of power in these positions saw women playing the roles of ritual specialists. As ritual specialists, women would work to create certain medicines and rituals that would help members of the communities with the many problems they were facing. These women would also provide these medicines to women to use when venturing out of the communities into the marketplace, and this would ensure their safety or success in trading (Parpart, 1986; Staudt, 1987). This demonstrates that uMakhulu facilitated community resilience using their knowledge of the environment. Furthermore, uMakhulu’s historical knowledge has been passed down through generations and remain in use today. For example, Bernadette Rebienot (2006) states that her grandmother taught her how to use many of her traditional medicines that come from plant materials such as Iboga (a medicinal shrub native to Central Africa; Tabernanthe iboga).

From the above discussion, it becomes clear that certain societies in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa revered women and appreciated their epistemic contributions. Notably, the heterarchical structures allowed women, including the elderly, to be active and essential community members during the pre-colonial era—which was different to what western patriarchy introduced. As Rita Laura Segato and Pedro Monque (2021) hold, prestige was allocated to masculinity and femininity, but with more flexibility than what is evident in modern western conceptualisations of gender. Segato and Monque (2021) conclude that “gender exists in these worlds, although it is different from what we find in colonial modernity” (p. 789). In the next section, we consider how gender roles in Africa began to change as they encountered colonial modernity.

Decentering uMakhulu: how colonialism changed the role of uMakhulu

Segato and Monque (2021) say that when “colonial modernity comes into contact with village gender, it brings about dangerous changes” (p. 789). This section then considers these dangerous changes, specifically by reflecting on the introduction of colonial patriarchy and how that decentres women generally, and uMakhulu specifically during colonial times.

Colonisation is characterised by, but not limited to, enslavement, domination, and various forms of physical and psychological exploitation that characterise colonisation (Bertolt, 2018). The psychological process and effects are well documented by scholars like Frantz Fanon (1963, 1965, 1967). According to Christine Saidi (2020), colonial powers destroyed the fluid heterarchical structures in African society. The European powers created an anti-Black world by bifurcating the worlds of coloniser and colonised. As explained by Fanon (1963, p. 41),

A world divided into compartments, a motionless, Manicheistic world, a world of statuses: the statue of the general who carried out the conquest, the statue of the engineer who built the bridge; a world which is sure of itself, which crushes with its stones the backs flayed by whips: this is the colonial world.

Fanon explains how the colonial powers succeeded by penetrating the psyche of the colonised. This penetration eventually results in what he calls an inferiority complex. Fanon (1967) explains that, ultimately, Black people internalised the racism perpetrated by the White coloniser, which, in turn, generated a continuous pattern of self-hate and a non-existent feeling about being in the world of the Other. As argued by Boris Bertolt (2018), the act of colonising Africans was an act of kidnapping both the physical and the mental. He further argues that colonisation created a new form of regulation in which a new society based on western hegemony regarding culture, knowledge, gender relations, and so forth, was formed (Bertolt, 2018).

By exploiting, marginalising, and ultimately excluding the African people on their continent, the colonial powers forcefully conceptualised a new reality—a new sense of being-in-the-world. The colonial agenda promoted the male, which was evident in the colonial preference for aligning themselves with Black men (Oyěwùmí, 1997). In the work of Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí (1997) and Ifi Amadiume (1987, 1997) colonisation is analysed not solely with a race lens but also a gender lens. These two authors evaluate and show how the pattern and logic of dominations by colonisers on Africans were successfully executed with the assistance of relentless patriarchal ideologies that became normative in African societies. The colonial agenda ensured the creation of alien social orders that favoured the male as per Eurocentric values. Because of this, Black men would often be favoured, for instance, in policies and laws regarding land ownership, thereby serving to disempower women. This pattern is also depicted in the early stages of colonisation, where Black men were placed in chieftaincy positions and served as negotiators with British colonisers. This shows how Black men, to some degree, aligned with the colonisers to oppress women, and patriarchy was entrenched in African societies.

As a result, a new social order developed in the African context, one which would reinforce masculine ideologies, which would ultimately create unbreakable boundaries between sexes (Oyěwùmí, 1997). In The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses, Oyěwùmí (1997) captures the introduction of western colonial patriarchy in Africa. The introduction of colonial customs into society through “hierarchising the colonial masculine and colonial feminine” has formed dangerous gender boundaries (Oyěwùmí, 1997, p. 77). This western colonial patriarchy replaced the heterarchy which favoured seniority over gender. Despite what some may believe, patriarchal ideology was not highly prevalent throughout pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa—nevertheless, it was the already extant patriarchy, alluded to earlier in this article as low-grade patriarchy, that allowed colonisers to reinforce western patriarchal ideologies (Amadiume, 1987; Chilisa & Ntseane, 2010; Moagi & Mtombeni, 2020; Ndlovu, 2008; Oyěwùmí, 1997). During the pre-colonial era, patriarchy in Africa was evident in the exclusion of women from certain social spaces. There was also evidence of bias and preferential treatment concerning land succession, where preference was given to men despite women also being able to own land independently (Parpart, 1986). These extant patriarchal conditions were exacerbated by colonisers with their peculiar oppressive ideologies that ostracised women. The new patriarchy, that is—colonial patriarchy, that was now becoming prevalent established and perpetuated the notion that men dominated women and that women should, consequently, be subordinate to men in all aspects (Jaiyeola & Issac, 2020; Plaatjies van Huffel, 2011). This ideology then found its way into institutions and the legalisation of cultural practices, politics, economics, and religious practices by the colonisers (Jaiyeola & Issac, 2020; Plaatjies van Huffel, 2011).

While women had always fulfilled certain domestic duties, they did so in addition to fulfilling many other public and political duties, too. For example, as mentioned earlier, women were the primary agriculturalists and keepers of knowledge of the land they were cultivating. Through the introduction of colonial laws, legal private property was now introduced, and women were prohibited from owning property, which served to alienate them from their roles as environmental custodians. This means they were estranged from a sphere in which they held considerable freedom and power (Moagi & Mtombeni, 2020), but also where they were key custodians of environmental knowledge. Silvia Federici (as cited in Haiven, 2009) summarises the relationship between colonialism, women, patriarchy, capitalism, and land ownership here,

In every part of the world, before the advent of capitalism, women played a major role in agricultural production. They had access to land, the use of its resources and control over the crops they cultivated, all of which guaranteed their autonomy and economic independence from men. In Africa, they had their farming and cropping systems, which were the source of a specific female culture, and they were in charge of the selection of seeds, an operation that was crucial to the prosperity of the community and whose knowledge was transmitted through the generations. . . . capitalist development changed this situation. With land privatization and the expansion of monetary relations, a deeper division of labor developed in agriculture that separated food production for profit from food production for direct consumption, devalued reproductive work, starting from subsistence farming, and appointed men as the chief agricultural producers, whereas women were relegated to the rank of “helpers,” field hands, or domestic workers. (pp. 26–27)

As a result, women in colonial Africa systematically lost their prominence. This loss was exacerbated by the introduction of capitalism and systems of formal education. Urban areas were increasingly established, providing employment predominantly to men as most of the positions of labour that were created and occupied required males’ physical strength (Akyeampong & Hippolyte, 2012; Mikidady, 2022). UMakhulu contributed significantly to Indigenous education, especially ecological education for the younger generations. However, with the introduction of formal education, which was Eurocentric in nature, the oral education provided by uMakhulu became sidelined, even more so since there was a difference in how African men and women were formally educated under colonialism. Women were educated to fulfil domestic roles (Mikidady, 2022), whereas Black men were able to access formal education (Makama, 2013). Women, in this new capitalistic world order, were increasingly dependent on their male counterparts. This idea that women were expected to stay at home and men would ultimately become the breadwinners of the household was introduced from the western to the African context (Makama, 2013). Western patriarchal ideologies introduced cultural intimidation, where men imposed their power as head of the house onto their female counterparts (Jaiyeola & Issac, 2020). Patriarchy was a “social, psychological, political and emotional weapon that makes women see themselves as a weak object of subordination, fear, and victims of hard and high-handedness” (Jaiyeola & Issac, 2020, p. 11). Colonialism and the introduction of a new colonial patriarchy changed the way women functioned and were seen in society, notably showing more rigid and oppressive gender norms than what one would note as pre-colonial patriarchy in Africa. This change has been well documented in the literature (Adichie, 2017; Dangarembga, 1988; Maathai, 2004; Ngcobo, 1999; Oyěwùmí, 1997).

However, there is a particular way in which patriarchy and women’s oppression are often captured in oral traditions, which is not often explored in the literature. Historically, Africans have used proverbs, idioms, myths, and songs as sources to educate the younger generations and pass down social, political, religious, and environmental knowledge (Uduigwomen, 1995). African proverbs, therefore, stand as a fundamental epistemological tool for African individuals (Etta & Mogu, 2012). Orality was, as a result of coloniality and its preference for the written word, ignored as a valuable epistemological tool. Despite this, some African societies—for example, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, and Ghana, continued share teachings and knowledge orally. Elders—more specifically, uMakhulu—often orally recollect memories, traditions, and cultures (Bvukutwa, 2014; Jaiyeola & Issac, 2020; Magoqwana, 2018). Therefore, the oral tradition is also a way in which environmental knowledge has been passed down through generations. Considering African proverbs, philosopher Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu (2014) states,

It is the wisdom and experience of a people, usually of several ages, gathered and summed up in one expression. They spring from the people and represent the voice of the people and express the interpretation of their belief, principles of life and conduct. It expresses the moral attitudes of the Igbo [an ethnic people of Nigeria] and reflects the hopes, achievements and failings. (p. 165)

Proverbs are, therefore, condensed wisdom, which is a useful tool to express Africans’ multifaceted nature of being and belonging in their world. These proverbs can provide insight into the social, religious, moral, political, and economic realities experienced by Africans, including their colonial experiences. The relationship between an individual’s reality and language is fundamentally complementary (Etta & Mogu, 2012). So, to grasp the generational traumatic and oppressive realities experienced by African women, specifically uMakhulu, one can examine the proverbs they share. These proverbs speak to the beliefs about themselves which have been established and embodied over decades of conditioning (Etta & Mogu, 2012)—much like the inferiority complex described earlier by Fanon (1967).

An uMakhulu’s proverbs, therefore, align with her existential reality. One example is a proverb widely shared by uMakhulu in Southern Africa in many ethnic groups, which relays in Setswana as: mosadi o tshwara tipa ka bogaleng (a woman holds a knife at the dagger’s edge) and expresses the readiness of Black women to endure the worst-case scenario. This proverb is often used to instil, but also reflect, resilience in women who might be experiencing abuse and trauma. In addition, this African proverb is also communicated to women during wedding ceremonies when given laws of marriage. This is to alert African woman that they will experience oppression, marginalisation, and neglect of some sort under the care of their proposed husbands (Montle, 2021). The women then need to willingly enter their married life, fully aware of the subordinate role they would be relegated to in the household. The aforementioned proverb is indicative of the colonial changes that the new patriarchy accustomed women to, given that older women in the pre-colonial era were the individuals who enforced discipline towards men who misbehaved which would include mistreatment of women in society (Saidi, 2019). Consequently, this would mean that such proverbs mentioned above were developed and reinforced over the colonial period since, previously, older women would not encourage the perpetuation of abuse and trauma-inflicting behaviour from men.

This proverb is, additionally, indicative of the various forms of oppression uMakhulu has had to endure since the colonial era as a result of her decentralised place in society. A cycle of oppression becomes evident—first, colonisers oppress Africans. Second, African men oppress African women, but then uMakhulu reinforces the oppression by instilling ideals of patriarchy through proverbs and then teaching those to the younger generations. According to Etta and Mogu (2012), the African proverb provides insight into how an individual interacts with their environment. Therefore, if uMakhulu still shares the above proverb, this can also reflect how they have previously handled oppression and marginalisation—through resilience fostered by endurance. This proverb, and its continual use even today, provides a glimpse into the realities of uMakhulu, especially important because of the distorted narrative around them in historical writings. This proverb also illustrates an internalised patriarchy—to be a woman is to suffer. The ability of proverbs to provide insight into certain marginalised groups’ realities demonstrates the role of orality in accounting for societal change. Proverbs act as epistemological tools to travel in time between the past and the present. For example, the illustration of internalised patriarchy in this proverb supports this article’s central argument that uMakhulu has been decentred. As a result of coloniality, she has had to not only suffer in silence but also understand her suffering as a normative category of the ideal African woman. In the next section, we consider how rehabilitating uMakhulu’s societal positioning will essentially translate to a positive position in their contribution to ongoing climate change discourse.

Recentering uMakhulu: rehabilitating uMakhulu in the fight against climate change

Thus far, in this article, we have discussed how the role of uMakhulu has been distorted through colonialism and the introduction of a particular type of patriarchy. We have argued that suffering has become a normative category for the African woman, as is seen through the proverb—mosadi o tshwara tipa ka bogaleng. Suffering is seen as resilience, and this is evident in how Black women and uMakhulu are treated and taught to tolerate their treatment in their workplace, marriage, and families, through particular proverbs. However, because of climate change, there is now a different kind of suffering—suffering through the effects of climate change, a phenomenon caused, broadly, by their previous colonisers. It is well documented that women in Africa are some of the most harshly affected by climate change (Deininger et al., 2023). This is because climate change exacerbates existing societal inequalities. Women in Africa including uMakhulu, especially those situated in the rural space, face socio-economic challenges such as poverty, resulting in overreliance on activities that resemble nomadic pastoralism for survival.

Environmental challenges resulting from climate change, such as soil erosion, land degradation, floods and the like, threaten the survival methods that women have used for decades, therefore creating even harsher socio-economic conditions. Today, women, extending to the elderly, are often custodians of the land, despite not owning land outright. In many instances, Black men travel for work—often to do hard physical labour like mining and commercial farming, and leave women behind. Women therefore play a vital role in mitigating the effects of climate change in their daily lives. These women who are often heads of households are faced with finding solutions to navigate the effects of climate change when their household sustenance is threatened, this has been evident through environmental movements such as the Green Belt Movement (Maathai, 2004). Also, these uMakhulu often do not have the freedom and flexibility to migrate in the face of harsh environmental challenges—making them some of the most vulnerable individuals in the face of climate change. The IPCC (2014) has warned that climate change will “lead to a very high risk of severe widespread, and irreversible impacts globally” (p. 17), with certain communities in developing and underdeveloped areas being at greatest risk (Wijaya, 2014).

To add insult to injury, as mentioned earlier, these women are often neglected in debates on climate change mitigation and adaptation. While the gender equality agenda has been raised as a concern, uMakhulu is nevertheless faced with economic, ageist, and social factors which act as intersectional barriers in adapting to or mitigating the challenges of climate change (Islam & Winkel, 2017). Oftentimes, climate change governance perpetuates gender discrimination, exacerbating the suffering of already marginalised communities, like the uMakhulu (Onwutuebe, 2019). The question one can ask is what the omission of these voices from the climate change discussion entails, and how it is being addressed (Flato et al., 2016).

The mere acknowledgement of the marginalisation and vulnerability of uMakhulu in climate change reports perpetuates the vicious psychological cycle concerning the expectation of African women to endure suffering. Rather, active inclusivity participation in climate agendas must be at the forefront of climate change discussions when considering the empowerment of the communities mentioned above (Otzelberger, 2014). UMakhulu are bodies of knowledge that ought to be urgently considered, as this type of knowledge is at risk of becoming extinct (Chiba, 2024). According to Moffat Chiba (2024, p. 6), this type of knowledge which is often shared orally runs the risk of “dying without transferring” it to the right bodies—which we argue is a fundamental challenge that is posed when considering involving the elderly in climate action strategies.

Furthermore, one example of inclusive participation is the report titled Climate Justice for Women and Girls: A Rule of Law Approach to Feminist Climate Action by the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO, 2022). This report promotes climate change policy recommendations that can be applied to areas where women’s voices have been silenced on this matter. This report provides the following recommendations (IDLO, 2022):

• Recognise and promote women’s active leadership and participation in climate decision-making and governance at all levels, including in the justice sector.

• Empower women and girls to realise their environmental rights, especially climate-vulnerable women such as indigenous women and women affected by climate migration.

• Support action by women- and youth-led organisations, and increase financial support for frontline women environmental human rights defenders.

• Foster an approach to climate finance that promotes more equitable funding for women-led climate change adaption and mitigation initiatives.

• Mobilise global multi-stakeholder coalitions to accelerate feminist action for climate justice (pp. 22–24).

As the report suggests, first, active participation in the climate decision-making process is of utmost importance; therefore, the active participation of uMakhulu to represent their communities in climate change governance is imperative. UMakhulu, despite all their disenfranchisement and oppression, remain pillars of the communities. They are often regarded as “trustworthy, and good with children and people” (Gutsa, 2017, p. 199). Having these women in decision-making spaces allows for reciprocal knowledge exchange between rural community members and external environmental organisations. This type of collaboration is already occurring among rural uMakhulu in Zimbabwe. In the rural area of Zimbabwe of Gutsa village, Ignatius Gutsa (2017) shows how uMakhulu, who are often heads of households educate the younger generations, mainly girls, regarding methods of water-collection, and even navigating drying up of wells during drought-affected periods. Furthermore, these children often work closely with uMakhulu on fields, where sustainable agricultural practices are learnt—essential ecological epistemologies that can assist during crucial seasonal cycles affected by climate change. As contended by Chiba (2024, p. 3) “African rural communities have been using meteorological Indigenous Knowledge to protect their natural environments to guard against food shortages” which is primarily the responsibility of women. We argue that uMakhulu’s years of experience working closely with the land affords her deep familiarity with the land, therefore, influencing ecological discourse which will ensure that context-based alternative adaptation and mitigation initiatives are sought and put in place. Ecological epistemologies of uMakhulu ought to be considered as vital survival knowledge as “such knowledge constitutes an informed epistemology, crucial for the survival of society; the unique, traditional, local knowledge existing within, and developed around” (Wane & Chandler, 2002, p. 93). The absence and underrepresentation of uMakhulu, especially those situated in rural areas, perpetuate the climate change suffering that these communities must constantly endure as adaptive strategies which are put in place do not seek to accommodate them (Peace and Security Council, 2023).

Second, uMakhulu should be seen as active community agents since they often live near nature in rural areas and hold a special role as the keepers and disseminators of knowledge to the younger generation. A pertinent example is the Vhavenda women located in South Africa who are known as the Baobab guardians (Baobab Foundation, 2023). These women play a role in not only planting baobab seeds and protecting baobab trees but also educating the younger generations about safeguarding these trees. This is essential climate change knowledge given that baobab trees are some of the natural models that are often used to detect severe climate changes which would ultimately influence harvesting or force migration under extremely harsh conditions (Klingenboeck & Silva, 2020). In some instances, baobab (a long-lived deciduous tree; Adansonia sp.) trees play a significant role in assisting South African scientists utilise technology to forecast climate change from analysis of tree samples (Klingenboeck & Silva, 2020). Therefore, uMakhulu’s knowledge about natural resources that can alter climate change practices in the communities underscores the importance of including them in climate discussions.

Furthermore, considering recent family studies in Africa (Michel et al., 2019; Schrijner & Smits, 2018), it is noteworthy that uMakhulu is heading households, especially in rural areas. So, they hold an upper influence in their communities as they are often regarded as trustworthy epistemic agents. A study conducted by Njoki Wane and Deborah Chandler (2002) supports this claim. Wane and Chandler (2002) record in their findings that “Cucu, a locally known sage . . . from the interior of rural Kenya . . . [is recognized for] her vast depth of cultural knowledge about land preservation and often seek her counsel in relation to the economics and politics of the land” (p. 87). Despite this veneration, communities of uMakhulu are often labelled as poor, marginalised, and oppressed. Although this speaks to their realities, it also creates the impression that these women are disabled and merely vulnerable individuals who fail to have a sense of agency regarding climate matters (Tran, 2023). This misconception should be corrected, and the capabilities of these communities need to be strengthened. This can be done through their legal empowerment in the context of their environmental rights; uMakhulu can then gain the agency to recognise how to navigate and adapt within the authoritative spaces (IDLO, 2022).

By centring uMakhulu on climate change matters, it legitimatises them as valuable sources of knowledge while also challenging the trend of turning Eurocentric solutions and climate approaches being applied to Indigenous communities without the consultation of local community leaders. As recorded by Wane and Chandler (2002), a reflection stated by one of the leaders of the rural uMakhulu in Kenya is that “[they] have never asked me why we resist to follow their book knowledge” (p. 94). This woman is sharing her and other women’s frustrations with researchers coming into their communities and enforcing environmentally sustainable project without consulting them—acts which are often important when addressing the effects of climate change. These women currently receive little support while also having their ecological epistemic frameworks arguably disregarded threatening their potential role in mitigating climate change. However, to do this, empowerment will take place through providing technical support to these women’s communities and rehabilitating the centrality of uMakhulu in society while also promoting a holistic approach regarding consultation of ecological epistemic frameworks. This entails that suffering should no longer be carried as a badge of honour but that such oppressive ideologies should be discarded. The proverb—mosadi o tshwara tipa ka bogaleng can be discarded, we argue, in favour of—mosadi o tshwara tipa ho seyamisa bogaleng ba one (a woman holds a knife to use its dagger’s edge), which could automatically promote a sense of agency among African women by encouraging them to take active charge of their reality. In this manner, uMakhulu’s position as bodies of knowledge contributing to society would also be restored.

As mentioned above, climate actions have been developed to mitigate climate change issues globally. However, this is not to deny that there is still a perceivable gap in the African context. The African space consists of communities that contribute the least to climate issues yet experience some of the worst effects; despite this, they are rarely included in the action plans (IPCC, 2022). As a result, re-centring the uMakhulu in climate discussions attempts to address the long-standing gaps in environmental matters. Several gender equality agendas have been considered in the climate change space. However, it is imperative to further consider women who are not always represented in these spaces, particularly women of lower socio-economic levels and those who are older, are often the ones who are left behind in these gender equality agendas, which have been proposed in good faith.

Conclusion

In this article, we have sought to answer the call by Babalwa Magoqwana (2018), who proposes that we ought to trace the significance of maternal knowledge in the African context and the first way to do this is by re-positioning the uMakhulu, whom she calls uMakhulu, as an institution of knowledge. We did this in the particular context of climate change, given the role of uMakhulu as epistemic agents and moral educators in sub-Saharan societies. Not only does the recentering of uMakhulu address historical injustices, but it can also contribute to global efforts to combat climate change by incorporating marginalised knowledge systems.

A notable trend in the environmental context is that western intellectual canons and African patriarchal institutions of power and knowledge have been privileged as the voice of reason regarding the necessary adaptation and mitigation strategies developed. Certain epistemic agents, such as uMakhulu, have been relegated to the sidelines. However, this marginalisation of uMakhulu speaks to a greater reality that they continuously face in society. So, to understand this reality, we had to first account for the underlying reasons that uMakhulu are neglected and often disappear in our realities, by considering their pre-colonial roles and the impact of colonialism thereon.

To fulfil the central aim of the paper, that is, to examine how re-centering uMakhulu as epistemic agents can contribute to climate change mitigation, we began by critically analysing the position that uMakhulu occupied in the pre-colonial era, specifically considering women in sub-Saharan Africa. This historical and anthropological trace of the mentioned communities was essential in comprehending whether uMakhulu has always been relegated to the background or non-existent place in their societies. With this examination, it was noteworthy that uMakhulu historically has always been a figure that was well-respected and often considered to have a high status in African pre-colonial societies.

However, colonial incursion disrupted the social and communal hierarchy and, consequently, uMakhulu’s social position. Patriarchal ideologies and biases also had a vast influence in the African context. These patriarchal ideologies can be found in the African proverbs that uMakhulu shares with generations, showing the internalised patriarchal injuries uMakhulu has had to endure for centuries. These ideologies should be contested, and by re-positioning uMakhulu at the centre of societal matters, such as climate change, African maternal ways of knowing are rehabilitated from invisibility. This provision also allows for the re-imagination of alternative knowledge productions to accurately attend to climate change challenges.