Some Notes on Animal Symbolism in African Religion and Culture

Olupona, Jacob K.

doi:10.1525/ahu.1993.18.1.3

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Many sacred species have practical value: game animals are often sacred, as are valuable plants, such as the olive (Rosenblum 1996). Species become sacred because they are large or unusual, such as the baobab trees in Africa and Madagascar (Pakenham 2004) and the leopard in West Africa (Olupona 1993). Sacredness can be attached to a particularly old or large individual (Anderson 1969; Chandrakanth & Romm 1991).…”

Section: Sacred Nature and Biodiversity Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Links between Protected Areas, Faiths, and Sacred Natural Sites

Dudley

Higgins-Zogib

Mansourian³

2009

Conservation Biology

211

201

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Most people follow and are influenced by some kind of spiritual faith. We examined two ways in which religious faiths can in turn influence biodiversity conservation in protected areas. First, biodiversity conservation is influenced through the direct and often effective protection afforded to wild species in sacred natural sites and in seminatural habitats around religious buildings. Sacred natural sites are almost certainly the world's oldest form of habitat protection. Although some sacred natural sites exist inside official protected areas, many thousands more form a largely unrecognized "shadow" conservation network in many countries throughout the world, which can be more stringently protected than state-run reserves. Second, faiths have a profound impact on attitudes to protection of the natural world through their philosophy, teachings, investment choices, approaches to land they control, and religious-based management systems. We considered the interactions between faiths and protected areas with respect to all 11 mainstream faiths and to a number of local belief systems. The close links between faiths and habitat protection offer major conservation opportunities, but also pose challenges. Bringing a sacred natural site into a national protected-area system can increase protection for the site, but may compromise some of its spiritual values or even its conservation values. Most protected-area managers are not trained to manage natural sites for religious purposes, but many sacred natural sites are under threat from cultural changes and habitat degradation. Decisions about whether or not to make a sacred natural site an "official" protected area therefore need to be made on a case-by-case basis. Such sites can play an important role in conservation inside and outside official protected areas. More information about the conservation value of sacred lands is needed as is more informed experience in integrating these into wider conservation strategies. In addition, many protected-area staff need training in how to manage sensitive issues relating to faiths where important faith sites occur in protected areas.

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Section: Sacred Nature and Biodiversity Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Links between Protected Areas, Faiths, and Sacred Natural Sites

Dudley

Higgins-Zogib

Mansourian³

2009

Conservation Biology

211

201

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“…Beyond pure economic values, crocodylians also have social value from a cultural perspective. That is, crocodylians have aesthetic, recreational, spiritual, and psychological values in many cultures and indigenous value systems around the world (Olupona, ; Passariello, ; Skinner, ).…”

Section: Crocodylians In a Changing Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and indirect interactions with vegetation shape crocodylian ecology at multiple scales

Somaweera

Brien²,

Manolis³

et al. 2018

Freshwater Biology

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As one of the world's largest predators of freshwater environments, crocodylians play an important role in shaping their community. In turn, many aspects of crocodylian life histories are influenced and have been shaped by characteristics of their environment, especially vegetation. However, our understanding of just how vegetation impacts crocodylian life histories remains limited, particularly in regard to indirect interactions. Such interactions can be critical for understanding population dynamics and, therefore, for informing conservation management decisions. We reviewed contemporary understanding of these plant–crocodylian interactions in peer‐reviewed journals and the grey literature, synthesising life history‐shaping dynamics against aspects of their ecology. We then conceptualised how global environmental change, including climate change, species invasions and land use change, may threaten these critical dependencies, and how future conservation plans need to account for these pressures. We identified five primary aspects of crocodylian ecology—habitat selection, nesting ecology, communication, physiology, and feeding ecology—that are probably shaped by vegetation interactions at different spatial scales. These interactions include direct and indirect impacts, with both positive and negative outcomes from a crocodylian perspective. Anthropogenic impacts on environments via global environmental change drivers is causing unprecedented change to vegetation dynamics. What is often overlooked is how these changes impact large aquatic predators such as crocodylians. Our synthesis shows that while many impacts can be identified, their magnitude and mechanism are not well understood, making management driven mitigation challenging. We recommend that future studies prioritise quantifying how vegetation communities shape the suitability of crocodylian nest sites, and how to best detect the fingerprint of impacts caused by invasive alien plants on demographic change in crocodylians over longer durations. An improved understanding of the impact of vegetation impacts on crocodylians is essential for building effective conceptual frameworks and management agendas for the conservation of these iconic reptiles.

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“…Evidence for this may be seen in any number of case studies. For example, among Nigeria’s Yoruba community animal images and metaphors feature prominently in cosmogenic myths and are used to convey concepts and perpetuate traditions, such as clan identity and sacred leadership [ 4 ]. A similar situation is seen among many other African groups where animal symbolism is intimately woven into the social fabric, being used to convey concepts of power, healing and protection [ 5 , 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection preferences for animal species used in bone-tool-manufacturing strategies in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2021

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Animal symbolism is a prominent feature of many human societies globally. In some cases, these symbolic attributes manifest in the technological domain, influencing the decision to use the bones of certain animals and not others for tool manufacture. In southern Africa, animals feature prominently in the cosmogenic narratives of both hunter-gatherer and Bantu-speaking farmer groups. Whenever these two culturally distinct groups came into contact with each other there would be an assimilation of cosmogenic concepts of power and the adoption of certain symbolically important animals. In this paper, we report on which animals were selected to make bone tools during the first millennium AD contact period in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, and explore the extent to which this selection may have been influenced by the symbolic associations of specific animals. Our results show selective targeting of specific animals for tool manufacture at some sites, with a narrowing of the range of selected species during the first millennium AD contact period. Certain antelope tribes, such as Aepycerotini, Cephalophini and Antilopini, appear to have been deliberately avoided, thus arguing against opportunistic selection. Nor does the range of selected animals appear to show any obvious mechanical considerations, as has been noted in similar studies. We highlight the potential of ZooMS for understanding the dynamics of animal symbolism in the past.

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Some Notes on Animal Symbolism in African Religion and Culture

Cited by 21 publications

References 3 publications

The Links between Protected Areas, Faiths, and Sacred Natural Sites

The Links between Protected Areas, Faiths, and Sacred Natural Sites

Direct and indirect interactions with vegetation shape crocodylian ecology at multiple scales

Selection preferences for animal species used in bone-tool-manufacturing strategies in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

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