Radical Utu: Critical Ideas and Ideals of Wangari Muta Maathai

Besi Brillian Muhonja. 2020. Radical Utu: Critical Ideas and Ideals of Wangari Muta Maathai. Athens: Ohio University Press. 170 pp.

Besi Brillian Muhonja has provided a valuable, fresh insight into the multi-faceted life of Wangari Maathai, especially as a scholar. Utu is the Swahili word for ubuntu, explained in the proverb "I am because we are; we are because I am." Maathai referred to the concept as "what it means to be human" (p. x). At the heart it means a strong sense of community. Maathai's work as a conservationist and political activist was communal.

Maathai is best known in Kenya and globally as a conservationist and political activist. But she was also a scholar and a prolific author. Muhonja guides us through some of Maathai's key writings that unfold her critical thinking and the communal concept of her work. The book features Maathai's writings but wisely begins with a chapter on her activism and ends with a chapter on her legacy. In between is a detailed study of Maathai's ideas. Maathai,...