Ujamaa as Ubuntu in practice: Community-led climate adaptation and conflict mediation as social justice praxis in northwestern Tanzania

Abstract

This paper explores the potential for African indigenous systems of thought (Ubuntu and Ujamaa) as the basis for community-based adaptation to climate change and conflict resolution in environmentally vulnerable settings. Based on 18 months of participatory action research in the Kagera region of northwestern Tanzania, our analysis incorporates a mixed-method approach to examine ways in which agro-pastoral communities mobilize values of social solidarity and collective action in response to challenges associated with climate change. Results confirm that practices informed by principles of Ubuntu and Ujamaa were associated with greater perceptions of collective efficacy, more equitable arrangements for sharing natural resources and greater capacity to resolve conflicts over land use and inter-community tensions. These results reflect the interpretations and experiences of participants, rather than represent causal relationships, and illustrate the moral and social bases for understanding processes of adaptation and resilience. Our findings are consistent with theoretical perspectives derived from decolonizing approaches to knowledge production, critical theory of climate justice and African indigenous systems of knowledge. In particular, we extend and elaborate on conventional interpretations of Ujamaa as a state-directed project of socialist development. Instead, we demonstrate how Ujamaa constitutes a component of a broader moral system based on interdependence, reciprocity and collective well-being. Consequently, both Ubuntu and Ujamaa represent living systems of knowledge and practice, and not simply historical forms of political ideology.