The Green Belt Movement: Women, Land, and Development
Public Deposited- Creator
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Kinoti, Kyende
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies
- Abstract
- Environmental degradation is one of the most prevalent and devastating issues in our contemporary world. As discourses on how to curb increasing environmental deterioration continue to emerge, it has become clear that the Earth’s ecosystems cannot thrive in tandem with hyper-modernization projects pursuing Western conceptions of development. As the ramifications of environmental degradation become more apparent in our daily lives, it is also evident that Southern women are disproportionately affected by ills brought about by the destruction of ecosystems. In light of our current gendered environmental crisis, this article offers a historical exploration of how the Green Belt Movement (GBM)—an organization founded in Kenya in 1977—engaged in programs and advocacy to empower rural women and conserve the environment. The GBM’s activities were particularly groundbreaking due to their occurrence at a time when conversations surrounding environmental protection were not mainstream and took the backseat to development goals evoked by modernization theory. To contextualize the GBM’s emergence, the article explores how agrarian policies in colonial and post-colonial Kenya led to deforestation and natural resource depletion. The article then offers gender and development (GAD) and intersectionality literature as ways to better understand the GBM’s interventions to restore natural habitats. The GBM’s tree planting, education, and advocacy programs are underlined as being instrumental in encouraging authentic design within communities, challenging hyper-modernization in Kenya, and shifting rural women’s gender roles. The article ultimately aims to highlight the importance of indigenous knowledge and local activism in creating a sustainable future.
- Date of publication
- 2022
- Keyword
- DOI
- Resource type
- Article
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Journal title
- Global Africana Review
- Journal volume
- 6
- Journal issue
- 1
- Page start
- 38
- Page end
- 50
- Language
- English
Relations
- Parents:
- In Collection:
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06_Kinoti.pdf | 2022-03-25 | Public | Download |