“It's More Than Planting Trees, It's Planting Ideas”: Ecofeminist Praxis in the Green Belt Movement

Abstract

Led by Wangari Maathai, the Green Belt Movement emerged as a response to environmental degradation in postcolonial Kenya. This essay examines three Green Belt Movement campaigns that operated as praxis to resist environmental and political oppression, empowering rural women to enact a political consciousness toward democracy and environmental justice. The ecofeminist conception of power-toward drives an analysis of the ways participants were empowered to materially rearticulate an environmentally stable and democratic Kenya. As a case study of environmental justice in the Global South, this essay demonstrates the applicability of an ecofeminist framework in critical rhetorical analysis by exploring the dynamics of social change.