Celia Nyamweru

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I have had two careers - first as a geomorphologist/physical geographer, then as a cultural anthropologist specializing in the relationship between people and the natural environment - with special reference to natural cultural/sacred sites in Africa. Now retired from full-time teaching but still professionally active.

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Remo Caponi

University of Cologne

Mauro Grondona

University of Genova

Graham Dutfield

University of Leeds

Rafael Domingo Osle

University of Navarra

Symbiosis University

Indepac

Università degli Studi "La Sapienza" di Roma

Gianluca Andresani

University of Aberdeen

Rijad Dautović

Independent Researcher

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Papers by Celia Nyamweru

The story of barkcloth in Uganda: an ancient craft in modern times

Old Africa, 2007

Cultural and Biological Heritage at Risk;The Case of the Rabai Kaya Forests in Coastal Kenya

Journal of Human Ecology, Dec 1, 2008

In this paper we give an account of the threats facing the kaya forests, sacred forests of the Ra... more In this paper we give an account of the threats facing the kaya forests, sacred forests of the Rabai people, a subgroup of the Mijikenda ethnic group of coastal Kenya. In this area economic, social, cultural and political forces over the last 150 years have had profound effects on the institutional context of natural resource management. The decrease in economic power of the Rabai, coupled with population increase, has led to increased pressure on all natural resources, including the communally owned kaya forests. At the same time the indigenous institutions responsible for controlling access to the forest resources have been weakened by the impacts of colonial rule, Islam, Christianity and most recently the policies of the independent Kenyan nation state. Despite this, many Mijikenda still have considerable respect for their indigenous value systems, and our paper draws on interviews with community members and local elders to describe some of the beliefs and practices which have ensured the survival of the sacred forests to the present day. We conclude with some recommendations for initiatives that could improve the local economies, strengthen community-based institutions, and enhance the chances of survival of these valuable elements of Kenya's natural and cultural heritage.

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The Kaya Forests of Coastal Kenya: 'Remnant patches' or dynamic entities

From coronation robes to car seat covers: the changing uses of Ugandan barkcloth

Kenya Past and Present, 2006

Sacred Groves Threatenend by Development: The kaya forests of Kenya

Cultural survival quarterly, 1996

John Beardsley, ed. Cultural Landscape Heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2016. Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture 37. Distributed by Harvard University Press. 486 pp. 141 color illustrations, 27 halfto...

African Studies Review, Sep 1, 2016

OL DOINYO LENGAI (2, 2-12) (2゜46'S, 35゜55'E) Tanzania, East Africa

Bulletin of Volcanic Eruptions, Mar 1, 1994

Symbols of Indigenous Identity: The Ndata leadership staffs of kaya elders in Kilifi District, Kenya

Ol Doinyo Lengai

Bulletin of Volcanic Eruptions, Mar 1, 1995

Quaternary environments of the Chalbi basin, Kenya: sedimentary and geomorphological evidence

Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 1986

Summary The Chalbi basin is an inland drainage basin surrounded by lava uplands in arid northern ... more Summary The Chalbi basin is an inland drainage basin surrounded by lava uplands in arid northern Kenya. In its centre lies the Chalbi playa, a bare surface of mud subject to occasional flooding, the surface of which is at c. 370 m above sea-level. Along the edges of the basin, basalt overlies sediments. At one site (Algas) sediments contain the fossil bones of aquatic and terrestrial species which suggest an age within the range 1.6 to 2.0 Ma. A K-Ar date of 2.5 ± 0.3 Ma has been obtained for basalt overlying the bone-bearing sediment. Between the basalt front and the Chalbi playa there is a belt of younger sediments that include sands and horizontally-bedded silts. At several localities, fossil freshwater gastropods have given 14C dates ranging from 9530 to 11,080 BP. The gastropods may have originated within a single Lake Chalbi with a surface water level above 410 m, or, alternatively, in a number of separate ponds or swamps. The evidence of early Holocene humid conditions in the Chalbi basin agrees with that from the Lake Turkana basin and from other lake basins in East Africa.

Referees for the African Geographical Review (October 2008 – April 2012)

African Geographical Review, 2012

The Politics of Culture in Kenya since 2010: Implications for pluralism

This chapter examines some key developments around culture and pluralism since the passing of the... more This chapter examines some key developments around culture and pluralism since the passing of the new constitution in 2010, drawing on new research findings. It starts by placing the subject in international context, including the ways in which cultural rights have become more visible in human rights protocols. It describes how culture and cultural rights feature in the 2010 constitution, and tension around these concepts which became sharply apparent during the constitutional review process. The subsequent rise and rise of culture (or ‘notions’ of culture) have become particularly apparent in devolved counties; for example, in the use by county governments of culture in tourism promotion, marketization of resources, and branding; in the proliferation of cultural festivals and other types of cultural performance across Kenya; and more broadly in the use of culture as a political propaganda tool, especially during the 2017 election campaigns. Cultural heritage is also emerging as a n...

Radiocarbon Dating of East African Lake Levels

Science, 1972

ern Rift, this alkaline lake is fed primarily (approximately 80 to 90 percent) by the Omo River, ... more ern Rift, this alkaline lake is fed primarily (approximately 80 to 90 percent) by the Omo River, which derives its waters from the western Ethiopian Plateau. Studies by Fuchs in 193 i and Radiocarbon Dating of 1934 (8) suggested the, presence of four high shorelines between +100 and EastAfrican Lake Levels + 27 meters, attributed to successive middle to late Pleistocene "pluvials," the earliest of which led to an overflow of New observations provide fresh insights the lake to the adjacent Nile basin. The details of this apparent sequence and into late Quaternary paleoclimates. the "dating," by scattered artifacts, were already questioned by Cooke (2), and, based on work in 1959, Whitworth (9)

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Natural cultural sites of Kenya: changing contexts, changing meanings

Journal of Eastern African Studies, 2012

Abstract Kenya is the home of over 40 ethnic groups of different cultural backgrounds. In pre-col... more Abstract Kenya is the home of over 40 ethnic groups of different cultural backgrounds. In pre-colonial times each of these groups had its own belief system, incorporating natural sites to which they ascribed cultural significance. Many of these “natural sacred sites” have been destroyed or severely degraded over the last century, while others survive and continue to be preserved. Over time, the meanings of such sites have changed, as has their management and control, especially since the political changes in Kenya of the early 1990s and with the increasing strength of the global environmental movement over the same period. This paper traces the history and recent development in four clusters of natural sites of cultural significance: the kaya forests of the Kenya coast; Mount Kenya and related sites of the central Kenya highlands; cultural sites in the Lake Victoria basin, including Ramogi Hill and Kit Mikayi; and highland sites in northern Kenya occupied primarily by pastoral nomads, including Mount Nyiro and Forole Hill.

Sheridan Michael J. and Nyamweru Celia, eds. African Sacred Groves: Ecological Dynamics and Social Change. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2008. Oxford: James Currey; Pretoria: Unisa Press, 2008. Ecological Dynamics and Social Change series, x + 230 pp. Photographs. Maps. Figures. Notes. Tables. R...

African Studies Review, 2009

ABSTRACT African Sacred Groves: Ecological Dynamics and Social Change brings together a disparate... more ABSTRACT African Sacred Groves: Ecological Dynamics and Social Change brings together a disparate group of contributors to discuss the relationship between sacred groves—areas of natural environment set aside by local communities for ritual use and protected by powerful spiritual forces—and efforts to promote conservation. Michael J. Sheridan and Celia Nyamweru have brought together social scientists and natural scientists to explore the ways that sacred groves have been appropriated by supporters of conservation—as both symbols of local communities’ ability to protect the environment from overexploitation and as tools to encourage that protection. The volume presents cases from across the continent, ranging from royal forests in Uganda, to sites on coastal Kenya, to cemeteries in Morocco, to single trees in Senegal, to fenced-in shrines in urban Ghana. In his overview essay Sheridan explores why the concept of sacred grove has become a part of the language of conservation—and the pitfalls that sometimes ensue. In opposition to a conservationist ethic focused on the idea of preserving nature untouched by human hands, he argues that the supposedly untouched sacred groves of Africa have been created by human agency and are constantly modified by humans. He hints (but does not state plainly) that the crux of the issue is that members of communities see sacred groves as sites of power and healing necessary for the maintenance of society, often in many different ways. In addition to ritual purposes, practices around such sites often allow the use of resources found in the grove in a variety of ways: herding, hunting, the gathering of firewood and building supplies, the collection of medicinal herbs, or even farming. In extreme cases the preservation of a sacred grove serves as an expression of political power (Abwoli Y. Banana et al., and Tsehai Berhane-Selassie), rather like the concept of aristocratic hunting grounds in Europe. Several studies demonstrate that different actors can compete for control over sacred graves. In many cases these sites result from human agency through planting and nurturing of trees, as Nyamweru et al. demonstrate for the Kaya forests of coastal Kenya, echoing the work on Guinea of James Fairhead and Melissa Leach (Misreading the African Landscape: Society and Ecology in a Forest-Savanna Mosaic [Cambridge University Press, 1996]). In short, African societies protected areas with social and political as well as religious aims in mind. Conservationists (a term covering a myriad of state and commercial interests, NGOs, and activists) come to sacred groves from a different perspective. Some see such areas as examples of primordial environments that should be protected for all human activity; others see them as evidence of a functional conservation ethic embedded in indigenous knowledge systems. However, in seeking to help communities preserve sacred groves they hijack the idea into the service of their definition of conservation, measured in terms of biodiversity and proportion of forest cover remaining (as Aiah Lebbie and Raymond P. Guries demonstrate in their essay on Sierra Leone). However, external support for conservation through the recognition of ritual sites can empower local communities (or at least some elements within local communities) to exert control over local resources. Liz Alden Wily’s essay situates the legal status of community-controlled resources within trends over the last decade supporting increased local control over resources in Africa. Yet such an alliance of external and local actors can easily be undermined by other factors. Beliefs around sacred groves often focus on the maintenance of social harmony and well-being. As conditions change—such as land shortages or an increase in timber prices—the guardians of sacred groves often prove capable of changing the rules of access. Ute Siebert discusses a case from Benin, where elders eventually allowed younger men to clear part of the forest rings around villages for agriculture because of the need for new land. In other cases (Alma Gottlieb on the Ivory Coast, and Nadia Rabesahala Horning on Madagascar) local communities must modify their practices as powerful outside interests exploit the resources of the forest. In an extreme case, as Gérard Chouin demonstrates, ritual sites in southwestern Ghana have retained their purpose as shrines, even when all the trees have been cut down and all that...

Cultural Landscape Heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa ed. by John Beardsley (review)

African Studies Review, 2016

African Sacred Groves: Ecological Dynamics and Social Change

African sacred groves are often described as the remains of primeval forests, ethnographic curios... more African sacred groves are often described as the remains of primeval forests, ethnographic curiosities, and cultural relics from a static pre-colonial past. Their continuing importance in African societies, however, shows that this 'relic theory' is inadequate for understanding current social and ecological dynamics. This title, by an international group of scholars and conservation practitioners, provides a new understanding of these forests, examining their ecological characteristics and delineating how sacred groves relate to social dynamics and historical contexts.

Sacred Groves Threatened by Development: The Kaya Forests of Kenya

Cultural survival quarterly, 1996

Social and cultural issues associated with conservation of sacred sites; the case of Kenya