Outlines of the Environmental Ethics of the Ofutop People

Abstract

This paper on “Outlines of the Environmental Ethics of the Ofutop People” posits that there is a latent conservation ethic in the cultural beliefs and practices of the Ofutop tribe of Ikom Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. Taboos, totems, and religious regulations featured prominently in this ecological model and these practices helped the conservation of the environment even though the aim was not ecocentric from the onset. It is argued here that this shortcoming can be remedied by making the practices more ecocentric than anthropocentric but leaving the practices as an indigenous means of environmental conservation. This paper adopted an expository and analytic approach in highlighting the environmental conservation practices of the Ofutop people especially in relationship with modern theories of environmental ethics.

Keywords

• Environment
• Conservation
• Taboo
• Totem

References

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