The representation of an eco-community in Timothy Wangusa's selected poetry

Abstract

This study investigates the representation of an eco-community in Timothy Wangusa's selected poetry. It explores how the poet articulates ecological consciousness and communal identity through imaginative and linguistic strategies rooted in African cosmology and cultural heritage. The research is framed around three central themes that together shape an eco-poetic vision: the tripartite connection between humans, the landscape, and animals; the human-nature-spirit connection; and language as a tool for mapping interconnectivity from an eco-linguistic perspective. First, the study examines the tripartite connection between humans, the landscape, and animals, arguing that Wangusa constructs a vision of an eco-community where these entities coexist in reciprocal and interdependent relationships. The landscape, particularly elements like "mountains, soil, and rivers," are depicted not merely as physical features but as living entities that hold memory, sustains life, and interacts meaningfully with humans and non-human creatures. Animals, in Wangusa's poetry are not passive subjects but active participants in the ecosystem, reflecting the world view that challenges anthropocentric models and embraces holistic interdependence. Secondly, the study explorers the human-nature-spirit connection, showing how Wangusa blurs the boundaries between the physical and metaphysical. Nature is portrayed as both material and spiritual, acting as a mediator between the living and the ancestral realm. Through his poetic imagination, Wangusa presents natural elements as sacred repositories of memory, origin, and identity. This connection affirms the belief in nature's animacy and its role in embodying cultural and spiritual values. It also reflects how traditional African ecological thought recognises the sacredness of the land and it's centrality to personal and communal being. The study will focus on language and the representation of connectivity, drawing from eco-linguistics to examine how Wangusa employs language as both a cultural and ecological tool. His use of indigenous terms, bilingual expressions, and poetic narrative techniques localises his poetry and situates the environment within the lived experiences of the community. This linguistic rootedness reinforces ecological meaning by showing that language itself reflects relationships with the land. It further reveals how communication between humans and nature is culturally constructed and symbolically powerful. The study is grounded in ecocriticism, particularly drawing on the Biophilia Hypothesis theory developed by Kellert and Wilson (1993), which suggests an innate human affinity with nature. It also incorporates Lawrence Buell's concept of environmental representation to examine how ecological relationships are constructed in literary texts. The research employs a qualitative, library-based approach using textual analysis. It involves close reading of Wangusa's selected poems, focusing on both thematic and structural elements, to explore intertextuality and the construction of ecological awareness. Overall, this study argues that Wangusa's poetry offers a compelling ecological vision grounded in the African experience. His poetic strategies do more than celebrate nature for they challenge dominant discourses by presenting interconnectedness as a cultural, spiritual, and ecological truth. In doing so, Wangusa contributes to the broader field of African eco-poetics by emphasising the need to view humans, landscapes, and non-human beings as part of one coexistent system.