JACKAL THE JUDGE: AN ECOCENTRIC APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION THROUGH AFRICAN NARRATIVE PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Far from being seemingly frivolous and insignificant modes of amusing children, African folktales, myths, legends and fables are a storehouse of the people’s knowledge and wisdom preserved and transmitted over countless generations. As a product of culture, stories are an expression of what the people can see, hear, think and feel in the world around them. It is during the process of engaging with, reconciling and struggling against nature that people create stories. The people’s relationship to and with the environment finds its expression through narratives inspired by their natural surroundings. This article examines how stories based on animal characters and plants can enable the ‘environment’ to reclaim its ecological rights rather than remain on the margins. The article argues that an ecocentric approach to environmental education poses a challenge to the anthropocentric view of treating nature as an object.

Key words: Econcetrism, education, African narrative performance, nature