Environmental Justice from Ubuntu and Comunalidad: Some Cosmovisions from Africa and Latin America

• In Event: Urbanismo y Medioambiente

Abstract

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A CO-AUTHORED PAPER WITH: MUNAMATO CHEMHURU OF THE GREAT ZIMBABWE UNIVERSITY--I could not add him to the list
Notwithstanding the level of human development that humanity has generally reached, the current century could be loosely referred to as the century of environmental catastrophe. It is an era of ecological crisis that is mainly caused by a complexity of issues ranging from historical, social, political, and economic factors. One might therefore wonder what the future of humanity and the planet Earth ought to be like considering that environmental equity issues should not be limited to current generations. In this work, we examine some of the oft-neglected relational ethical perspectives stemming from African and Latin American ethical traditions that might be understood differently than those in the North Atlantic world to confront the current environmental crisis, and how to think about the future. Focusing on environmental injustice, which is mostly severe within the global South, we propose exploring how the African ethics of ubuntu together with the Latin American ethics of “comunalidad” (Mexico), “buen vivir” (Andes in South America), or some of the many other belief systems of different societies in the region might be taken as alternative and plausible environmental justice frameworks for understanding relationships of humanity and nature the global South for present and future generations.

Author

• David Barkin, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco