Under colonialism, indigenous Kenyan cultures were besieged. However, no healing of the scars inflicted on you, I am convinced, can equal the soothing of the Nobel Peace Prize you have now won. With the reduced role of the state and increased indebtedness of African countries, new spaces for other development actors emerged. Consequently, Professor Maathais ingenuity and persistence were widely recognized and honored, and earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. When you do it alone you run the risk that when you are no longer there nobody else will do it. stream As elites, they were keen to build careers, and acquire wealth and status in the emerging society. 16. Later Years and Death. Wangari Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount . ed. 41. A decision to send Maathai to school was made by her mother at the instigation of Nderitu, an elder brother. The death of Wangari Muta Maathai on September 25, 2011, left a rich heritage that continues to inspire men and women, old and young, and indeed the entire world as it grapples with the challenges of sustainable development goals and climate change. The socioeconomic impact of policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on the environment and poverty in Africa should be noted at a time when the thinking within UN circles was questioning the prevailing development orthodoxy. In reality, her environmental activism was part of a holistic approach to empowering women, advocating for democracy, and protecting the earth. Two years into their marriage, she attained her PhD, which accelerated her career in academia. When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope. Wanyiri Kihoro, Never Say Die: The Chronicle of a Political Prisoner (Nairobi, Kenya: East African Education Publishers, 1998). But after returning to Kenya, she found that her career opportunities were limited. They energized governments, development agencies, civil society organizations and, in particular, womens movements and environmental activists all over the world. 22 0 obj The GBM was launched under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK), an umbrella organization which brought grassroots womens organizations together for the advancement of women. Duncan Ndegwa, Congratulatory Letter, December 2, 2004, in Ndegwa, Walking in Kenyatta Struggles, 595. Her time in academia gave her opportunities to engage in voluntary community activities that were not strictly academic, although regarded as part of university community service. University of Nairobi Research Archive, Citation on Professor Wangari Muta Maathai on her Conferment of the Honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) Colonialism in Kenya was a major force for social differentiation. In 1966, Maathai returned to Kenya confident and with high hopes for making a contribution to the newly independent country. 15. Her life was a series of firsts: the first woman to gain a Ph.D. in East and Central Africa; the first female chair of a department at the University of Nairobi; and the first African woman and the first environmentalist to receive the . A number of factors and circumstances seem to have contributed to the emergence, rise, and success of the GBM as a development actor. Another volume, The Challenge for Africa (2009), criticized Africas leadership as ineffectual and urged Africans to try to solve their problems without Western assistance. She was recognized at once for doing no harm and for not upsetting the status quo. It focused on the value of tree-planting programs, as well as dealing with environmental deterioration in rural areas resulting from the intensified cultivation of cash crops and population growth. Prof. Hofmann had a mission to fulfill at the emerging University College, Nairobi: to establish a Department of Veterinary Anatomy in the School of Veterinary Medicine. I am sure that this honour will now usher in a new beginning with new sensibilities to match. Women were in control and were making the vital decisions at home, in the village, and at school. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Wangari Maathai, The Challenge for Africa: A New Vision (London: William Heinemann, 2009); on culture, 160183; and on mother tongues, 220226. This affinity with the soil became a great asset when she led tree-planting campaigns. There, Maathai changed her first baptismal name and became a staunch member of the Legion of Mary, which encouraged the values of service and volunteering. In 1960, she benefited from what in Kenya was called the Tom Mboya Airlift to the United States, for education in preparation for independence. To begin with, Maathai had to contest for a position in the NCWK leadership. Instead the state officials preferred to create divisions among the GBM leadership rather than banish it. Local experiences also infused global thinking and appreciation of struggles for democratic governance, peace, and sustainable development. The contending social forces of the colonial period persisted in postcolonial Kenya, impinging on the concept of modern marriage and incipient African womanhood. 18. Maathai, Unbowed, 112, 144, 151155. In her writings, Maathai refers to Maasai influence on her mothers side.3. Maathais election to parliament was almost an anticlimax. A. That the GBM withstood and survived harassment from the government of Kenya and its security apparatuses was a testimony to the strength and capacity of these networks. Maathai had been successful in building a grassroots movement, but she fell into the trap of competitive politics as the best way forward. These changes were advocated by the R. J. M. Swynnerton Plan of 1954. 42. Thus she became Wangari Muta Maathai, asserting her African identity and freedom to be known and called by the names she wanted (Maathai, Unbowed, 147). Nobel Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai . When she was globally recognized with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize, she became an instant national icon.59 Duncan Ndegwa, an outstanding public servant from Nyeri County, brought out this ironic situation in his congratulatory letter to Maathai when he wrote: Lest you forget, and far away from any vestiges of dignity, we have seen you being shoved aside if not totally ignored by the government, labeled feminine chauvinist and treated like a common criminal all for being principled and living for a cause. As a national school, Loreto High School provided Maathai with the opportunity to interact with girls from other ethnic groups in Kenya. Historian G. Muriuki refers to this early mixing of ethnic groups in The History of the Kikuyu, 15001900 (Nairobi, Kenya: Oxford University Press, 1974). Her marriage brought another challenge in terms of what she could be called. He also discusses the place of indigenous languages in liberation from cultural enslavement in Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (Nairobi, Kenya: Heinemann Educational, 1986). By then she had acquired world fame which transcended her position as a member of parliament and as an assistant minister of the environment and natural resourcesa position she was appointed to in January 2003. Maathai was a frequent contributor to international publications such as the Los Angeles Times and the Guardian. Maathai, Wangari. 12. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. << /Type /XRef /Length 71 /Filter /FlateDecode /DecodeParms << /Columns 4 /Predictor 12 >> /W [ 1 2 1 ] /Index [ 22 32 ] /Info 37 0 R /Root 24 0 R /Size 54 /Prev 82415 /ID [<27d5614c796589e23c265b2454e3ebce><27d5614c796589e23c265b2454e3ebce>] >> Maathai was born in a small rural village known as Ihithe in the Tetu division in what was then the Nyeri District. In discussing her childhood in her autobiography, Maathai paints a picture of an idyllic life set in a pristine and lush rural environment. 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. All the girls in the school came from the same community, but were prohibited from speaking their language. The Green Belt Movement, Wangari Maathai: Key Speeches and Articles, November 11, 2020. In these initial attempts, no distinct ideological orientation or program of action could distinguish her from other politicians in the country. 23 0 obj This article has benefited a great deal from discussions and interviews held toward the end of 2018 and in 2019 with Prof. Wanjiku Kabira, Rev. ed. Initially, the NCWK was an organization led by urban elite women and intended to give a voice to womens organizations. 30. 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. Born on April 1, 1940 Wangari Maathai grew up in Nyeri County, located in the central highlands of Kenya. 26 0 obj In some circles, her move in the direction of elective politics was seen as opportunistic.40 Fortunately, this did not ruin the GBM, a tragedy that often befalls institutions from which prominent leaders emerge. Elsewhere, especially in the Rift Valley, where people were embroiled in state-sponsored ethnic conflicts since the early 1990s, Maathai joined with the churches, democratic activists, civil society organizations, international and local press to highlight atrocities committed against nonKalenjin ethnic communities in various parts of the Rift Valley. Wangari's Words to Live By . Maathai played an active part in the struggle for democracy in Kenya, and belonged to the opposition . The intention was to pacify central Kenya and create a favorable apolitical climate for consolidating the interests of settlers and the colonial administration. Later in life, as she became more engaged with various communities, her respect and appreciation of Gikuyu language, culture, and indigenous knowledge deepened and widened.17. In 2007, the region would explode into postelection violence, something which she had foreseen and tried hard to mitigate by cultivating a culture of peace for almost two decades. She was presented by Professor Ole Danbolt Mjs, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The life of Wangari Muta Maathai (19402011) was strongly shaped by her rural environment, missionary education, and exposure to university education in the United States and Germany. (Nairobi, Kenya: Leadership Institute, 2011); and Wangari Maathai, Unbowed: One Womans Story (London: Arrow Books, 2006). Wangari Maathai (1940-2011) was the founder of the Green Belt Movement and the Wangari Maathai Institute. Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, African History. 29. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Aid agencies distrusted state actors and channeled more resources to nonstate actors.56. 1 Her homeland was established by the British as the East Africa Protectorate in 1895 and then became the Kenya Colony in 1920; the independent Republic of Kenya emerged in 1964 after gaining internal self-government the prior year. Despite the complexities and diversions that characterized her career, Wangari Maathai did succeed in the promotion and execution of important ideas and projects whose time had come.41 Eventually in 2002, on her third attempt, she was elected as a member of the Kenyan parliament and as a member of the National Rainbow Coalition which emerged out of the ashes of the dying authoritarian rule of Moi and KANU. Accordingly, she adopted new Christian names, to later abandon them in favor of her African names, a saga repeated upon marriage and divorce.13, In 1956, Maathai took another important step in her education journey by joining Loreto High School, Limuru. The Early Years and Education "It was during the mbura ya njahi - the season of long rains, in 1940 that Wangari Maathai was born. Individual ownership of land and the introduction of cash crops drastically altered how people related to their environment.25 The indigenous trees were cut to prepare ground for planting coffee, tea, and wetlands; sacred groves and common grazing areas were subdivided, shared, and privatized.26 The consequences of these changes were observed by the young Maathai and responded to by the GBM in the 80s and 90s. Interviews held on various dates in 2018 and 2019 with Prof. Wanjiku Kabira, Rev. Later, when she was denied the opportunity to participate in elective politics, she invested her energies into the development of the GBM which became her signature lifetime achievement, widely honored on numerous occasions for its pioneer tree-planting ventures and the related empowerment of women. Timothy Njoya, We the People: Thinking Heavenly Acting Kenyan (Nairobi, Kenya: WordAlive Publishers, 2017). In the last three decades it has become the cosmopolitan and partially urbanized County of Nyeri. Murungi, In the Mud of Politics, 196199. Upon her return to Kenya in 1966, she dropped her Christian names and retained her African names, Wangari Muta. 1. Some of her most important speeches can be found on the GBM website, including: Bottlenecks to Development in Africa, Fourth UN World Womens Conference in Beijing, China, August 30, 1995; Speak Truth to Power, May 4, 2000; Noble Lecture during the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway, December 10, 2004; Rise Up and Walk! 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. In 2004, Maathai was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her contribution to protecting the environment and empowering women in Africa. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. 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. It also diffused opportunities for deepening an understanding of environment challenges in the country. These events were critical to the formation of Maathai, who became an environmental champion, an engaged intellectual, a Nobel laureate, and an icon of grassroots activism. The influence of the nuns began in this school and continued all the way to university. Wangari Muta Maathai dedicated her life to solving some of these key issues in Kenya and the world. Their approach is wonderfully illustrated in a documentary Taking Roots: The vision of Wangari Maathai. Maathais elder brother Nderitu was the first in the family to attend school, thereby creating a positive image of schooling and serving as an inspiration to his sister. She was also the first female scholar from East and Central Africa to take a doctorate (in biology), and the first female professor ever in her home country of Kenya. Updates? Both families migrated from the Nyeri District to the Rift Valley province in search of employment and land to cultivate. In the forests of Aberdares and Mount Kenya, guerilla warfare was intense. 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. Nevertheless, it was not easy balancing bringing up three children, earning a living, carving her identity, as well as navigating through turbulent political waters.29. Wangari Maathai was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. 55. The most important dates and events in the current school year can be found in our calendar. 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. Wangari recognised rural women's primary interest and role in maintaining a productive landscape, for assuring food needs as well as making daily household necessities - water and fuel - easier to collect. The women formed an important constituency of this work which politicians could not ignore. 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