From God to Orphan: The Deep Humanity and Deep Ecology of Limba Palm Wine Practice

Abstract

Abstract This article’s research situates the local values, livelihoods, and stories of Limba palm wine practice within a discourse of ecospirituality and environmental sustainability using interdisciplinary methods to integrate perspectives from diverse fields including religious studies, peace studies, and Africana studies. Our longitudinal analysis incorporates field research conducted among the Limba of Sierra Leone between 1961 to the present by multiple researchers, providing an in-depth examination of palm wine traditions contextualized across a range of West African communities. The authors assert that Limba palm wine tapping has helped sustain important values and ways of life throughout a turbulent history encompassing periodic episodes of ethnic conflict, structural and traumatic violence, and environmental instability. Thus, Limba palm wine culture demonstrates how Indigenous knowledge, honored traditions, and sacred rituals empower spiritual and ecological worldviews that speak directly to processes of reparative reconciliation and resiliency.