Divining for the Environment: An Ifa Response to the Environmental Crisis – Oludamini Ogunnaike

Addressing the current environmental crisis is often described as a moral responsibility, a part of being a good global citizen or steward of the Earth, but for Sub-Saharan Africans, like many others in the post-colonial world, it is a matter of survival. Global warming and the ensuing desertification threatens to desiccate nearly half of the continent’s arable land and has already been linked to the increasing instability across the Sahel. Furthermore, rising sea levels, environmentally irresponsible actions of foreign companies, and changing ecological patterns only complicate and compound environmental issues. Thus, it is vital that African scholars, leaders, and laypeople understand the origins of this crisis and take appropriate action to control our own destinies. As history has taught us, if we do not take matters into our own hands, someone else—without our best interests at heart—will do so for us.

In this paper, we argue that the best way to address this crisis is not through the intellectual traditions that have contributed to its creation, but rather indigenous modes of thought and being that already contain appropriate responses. To explore these responses within a traditional Yoruba context, we take two different narratives from Ifá as well as the hermeneutics of the Ifá divination system, as models for understanding and addressing different facets of the ecological crisis. We interpret these narratives in light of current issues and use them to begin to address the questions: Why did this crisis begin? How did it occur? What are its potential ramifications? And what can we do about it?