ABSTRACT
The secularization thesis sees religion as diminishing in power and importance in the contemporary society, which grapples with complex issues, including climate change. More reliance on science and technology is being advocated so as to control and explain unique weather patterns in the cosmos. Such approaches to climate change have resulted in generational degradation and decline in the use of indigenous weather forecasting and other traditional knowledge (Gilberthorpe and Hilson 2014). Notwithstanding the arguments in favour of secularization, this chapter seeks to demonstrate, through indigenous knowledge embedded in traditional spirituality, that religion remains a significant force in Eswatini cosmological space. Eswatini, like many African and other global South countries, bears the brunt of the impact of climate change, but indigenous ecological knowledge enables Emaswati to mitigate and adapt to different life situations. Through weather rituals administered by religious personages, they are able to control, manage, and manipulate climate change-induced extreme weather conditions. Religion is thus a core cultural system that cannot be ignored as it provides human security in insecure communal environments through ritual performances. The Incwala national ritual celebrated annually by Emaswati is cited as a typical example that demonstrates this assertion. The chapter concludes by proposing an integration of both indigenous knowledge and Western scientific knowledge, which can result to creative multi-pronged climate change response adaptations in contemporary Africa.
