The Value of Space (EBE) in Igbo Eco-Spirituality
Ikechukwu Anthony KANU
This paper focused on the value of space in Igbo eco-spirituality. The concept “Igbo eco-spirituality” was developed in 2021 by the researcher as an indigenous and traditional form of responding to the devastating realities of climate change, mass extinction, biodiversity loss, and the disruption of ecosystems among the Igbo-African people. It calls for a re-thinking of the foundational beliefs regarding the preservation of the environment, and the need to create a welcoming space for indigenous voices so as to open the opportunity to benefit from a genuine exchange among cultures. The present research marked out three important spaces in Igbo ontology, which include land (ala), water bodies (mmiri) and sky (enu igwe) that shape discourses in Igbo eco-spirituality. This research introduces a discourse on the spiritual dimension of nature, which is a shift from the dominant paradigm, that is largely legalistic, consumerist, materialistic and profit oriented. The theoretical framework employed in this work is the Igwebuike framework, which is an indigenous holistic approach to the conservation of the environment that understands reality as complementary, interconnected and interrelated. Ultimately, this paper discovered the ecological value of land-space, water-space and sky-space in Igbo ecological discourses, which are relevant for conversations on the human struggle with climate change in the 5th year of the 2020s decade.
Keywords: Space, Place, Igbo, African Ecology, Spirituality, Indigenous, Ecological crisis
