Re-imagining uMakhulu as integral epistemic agents in addressing climate change

The long-silenced voices of Black women have slowly emerged as valuable intellectual contributors in environmental spaces; however, uMakhulu (elderly African women) remain overseen. Although uMakhulu are frequently portrayed as vulnerable and marginalised communities in climate change discussions, they are rarely consulted in these conversations. This, we argue, is an effect of patriarchal bias introduced by colonialism and has since been evident in various African contexts, including proverbs. We consider a popular African proverb—mosadi o tshwara tipa ka bogaleng (a woman holds a knife at the dagger’s edge)—and how it influences and normalises the oppression of Black women. This negative connotation of uMakhulu has enabled the disregard of African maternal ways of knowing, thereby silencing African women. Here, we propose a way to re-centralise uMakhulu as an institution of knowledge who can offer meaningful contributions to climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.