wangari maathai primary sources

Her mother had a great deal of influence on her daughter as she grew up in the village. 49. Primary Sources Overview . Wangari Maathai, environmental activist and politician, born 1 April 1940; died 25 . You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Kenyan politician and environmental activist Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2004 for her involvement in "sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights, and women's rights in particular." She became the first Black African woman to achieve such an honor. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The genius of Maathai and other women leaders was to turn this elite organization into a vehicle for the empowerment of rural women. 61. When she won the Nobel Prize in 2004, the committee commended her holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights, and womens rights in particular. Her first book, The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience (1988; rev. Her entire life was thus characterized by learning, critical observations, engagement, interactions with people, and advocacy for change. She was the first woman to be awarded a PhD in veterinary sciences and the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Primary Sources. In many instances she learned by imitating what her mother and other village women were doing. When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope. Hence the proliferation of NGOs with concerns such as the environment, the development of microfinance, peace building, human rights, and the empowerment of women.55 This was accompanied by increased funding for civil society organizations due to increased concerns about the accountability of governments which were also perceived as authoritarian and corrupt. Political activist and environmentalist Wangari Maathai was trained to be a leader. She began teaching in the Department of Veterinary Anatomy at the University of Nairobi after graduation, and in 1977 she became chair of the department. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, Early States and State Formation in Africa, Historical Preservation and Cultural Heritage, Formal Education in Kenya and the United States, The Place of Wangari Maathai in Kenya, Africa, and the World, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.480, United Nations Conference on Human Environment, World Conference of the International Womens Year, United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, United Nations Conference on Environmental Development (UNCED), Earth Summit, World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace, World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Wangari Maathai: Key Speeches and Articles, Women, Gender, and Sexuality in East Africa. This was a joint program between the University of Giessen and University College, Nairobi. 59. Maathai's atypical and yet symbolic biography draws on two primary texts: Wangari Maathai's (2006), Unbowed: A Memoir . Maendeleo ya Wanawake, an organization for the progress of women, started during the colonial period, was dedicated to support the welfare of African women, but in the postcolonial period became a vehicle for the participation of women in development. She was tasked with domestic chores as was expected of young girls in traditional society. In her writings, Maathai refers to Maasai influence on her mothers side.3. This policy was implemented from the mid-1950s and accelerated in the 60s and 70s by the independent government of Kenya. [i] She was born in Nyeri, part of the rural region of Kenya on the 1st of April 1940. Maathais mother, her brother Nderitu, and another member of the family made this critical decision, which would open the doors for Maathai to quality education in Kenya and eventually in the United States, thus introducing her to international networks which were to shape her future. In the last three decades it has become the cosmopolitan and partially urbanized County of Nyeri. Her family had established the precedent of educating girls, just as an older uncle had done.6 Together with her mother, Maathai left a settlers farm in Nakuru, where her father was working, to return to Ihithe village in the Nyeri districtone of the rural areas designated for Africans, termed native reserves,so that she could attend school. Dr. Samuel Kobia, Annetta Miller, Harold Miller, Ms. Lillian W. Mwaura, Mr. Joshua S. Muiru, Ms. Njeri Muhoro, Prof. Gideon Cyrus Mutiso, and Mr. Titus K. Muya. This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Wangari Maathai, and supports the standard of individuals' achievements and contributions to environmental preservation. The influence of the nuns began in this school and continued all the way to university. 26. With Wairimu Nderitu, Mukami Kimathi: Mau Freedom Fighter (Nairobi, Kenya: Mdahalo Bridging Divides, 2017); and Caroline Elkins, Britains Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya (London: The Bodley Head, 2014), 237238. She was brought up, taught, encouraged, and mentored by womenher mother, village women, and teachers (nuns in particular). Maathai was shaped by her rural environmentin which she lived on her mothers farmas well as her missionary education and later, by her education in the United States and Germany. The prevailing cultural attitudes toward Western education and especially education for girls were hostile. The Early Years and Education "It was during the mbura ya njahi - the season of long rains, in 1940 that Wangari Maathai was born. A. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). This left the NCWK in a precarious financial situation and effected the severing of relationships with many grassroots organizations. Maathai, Unbowed, 7. A meeting with Prof. Reinhold Hofmann from the University of Giessen in Germany provided an opportunity not only for employment but also for the advancement of her field of interest at the upcoming university. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. She also had close relationships with other African regional institutionsfor instance, the African Development Bank (AfDB). When cash crops were introduced, again it was men who were registered in the cooperatives and received payments after deliveries of tea and coffee. 25 0 obj Two years later, she shifted along with her parents to a farm near Rift Valley where her father had found work. 2003), detailed the history of the organization. Her position at the university also opened opportunities to venture into other fields of service and leadership for which she was to become well known in addition to her academic pursuits. Born in the midst of a world war and growing up among the conflicts and ambiguities of colonial domination, thereafter she cultivated, mobilized, and networked for a world of democratic and peaceful governance and sustainable development. 54. Maathai seems to have been aware of these tensions as she juggled the roles of mother, politicians wife, and university teacher, as well as affirming herself as an African womanin manner of dressing, hospitality at home, and speaking local languages to meet the expectations of her husbands constituents.28 Hence her marriage might have become a theater of contestations of different perceptions of womanhood in independent Kenya. Once again finding her options limited, she went on to pursue a doctorate from the University of Giessen in Germany. Maathai was a pragmatic rather than a dogmatic figure, with no rigid ideological stance in her engagement with the environment and the politics of Kenya. It's teamwork. 36. While working with the National Council of Women of Kenya, Maathai developed the idea that village women could improve the environment by planting trees to provide a fuel source and to slow the processes of deforestation and desertification. 3. Through interaction with the nuns, Maathai gained the Christian values of respect for the dignity of all human beings.14 Most of these blended well with the Gikuyu values of hard work, respect for fellow humans, and an appreciation for the dignity and wisdom derived from being a member of a community, referred to elsewhere as ubuntu.15 In many respects she became ecumenical, embracing religious ideas and values from other world faiths, especially as they related to the protection of the environment.16 Although she was one of the educated girls, she never lost touch with her rural roots and the common people. Although seen by some as an ill-advised move, in retrospect it proved a boon for the development of the GBM and the career of Maathai in environmental advocacy. Wangari Maathai held her Nobel Lecture December 10, 2004, in the Oslo City Hall, Norway. She was presented by Professor Ole Danbolt Mjs, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Further information about these conferences can be found in the Links to Digital Materials section. While her father was formally educated, her mother was not. Her work was often considered both unwelcome and subversive in her own country, where her outspokenness constituted stepping far outside traditional gender roles. Leaders of the Green Belt Movement established the Pan African Green Belt Network in 1986 in order to educate world leaders about conservation and environmental improvement. Daniel Branch, Kenya: Between Hope and Despair, 19632012 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), 249251; and Karuti Kanyinga and Duncan Okello, eds., Tensions and Reversals in Democratic Transitions: The Kenya 2007 General Elections (Nairobi, Kenya: Society for International Development and Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, 2010), 169. 30. That she accompanied mothers of political detainees at the Freedom Corner to fight for the release of their incarcerated children is indicative of how she identified with the struggles of ordinary Kenyans in confronting an authoritarian regime. Perchance they helped Maathai consolidate her thinking and understanding of environmental issues in Kenya and helped her to identify follow up actions that needed to be taken. The impact of changes in rural Kenya was complicated by emerging corruption among Kenyas elite. A decision to send Maathai to school was made by her mother at the instigation of Nderitu, an elder brother. In the 50s, for purposes of controlling insurgency in central Kenya, cash crops such as coffee and tea, and the keeping of dairy animals were introduced. Your recognition as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate has without doubt now confirmed your extraordinary identity in Tetu, Nyeri, Kenya, East Africa, Africa and the World.60. She was an Honorary Councillor of the World Future Council. Most people think of Ms. Maathai as an environmentalist, planting trees. Wangari Muta married Mwangi Mathai in 1969. Forest cover was also decimated as large-scale farms were subdivided and select forest reserves were hived off for settlement purposes. The GBM established strong footholds in the districts where land consolidation and settlements had taken place and where modern farming methods and marketing were adopted. Her family was of Kikuyu origin, and her father was polygamous. Such was the world into which Maathai was born in 1940 and subsequently raised. Were hostile Maathai held her Nobel Lecture December 10, 2004, in the to... Engagement, interactions with people, and advocacy for change which Maathai trained! Signed in, please check and try again mother had a great deal of influence on her daughter as grew... Family was of Kikuyu origin, and advocacy for change to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in! 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