Bantu Sociolinguistics in Wangari Maathai's Peacebuilding Rhetoric

Abstract

This article argues that appreciating the holistic approach Wangari Maathai embraced in both her environmental and peacebuilding work requires attending to the abiding influence of Kikuyu language and culture throughout her long career. To highlight the specific connections between her rhetoric and its cultural contexts, I approach Maathai’s discourse and activism from the perspective of Bantu sociolinguistics. Through a sociolinguistic analysis of Maathai’s spoken and written words, I demonstrate how the integration of peace and environmentalism for which Maathai was renowned resonates with notions of mariika (“generations”) and ukama (“relatedness”). Viewed from this perspective, Maathai’s insistence that there was no peace without environmental stewardship and effective democracy appears neither idiosyncratic nor incoherent but a nuanced extension of a rich cultural legacy. This study illustrates the heuristic utility of Bantu precepts of rhetoric by applying them in a critical appreciation of Maathai that expands understandings of peacebuilding rhetorics and integrates environmental communication into other political discourses.