A Philosophical Analysis of Core Elements of African Religiosity Shaping Environmental Attitudes and Practices among the Wakara

This article examines how Wakara religiosity on Ukara Island generates a coherent environmental ethic by linking religious belief, moral value, environmental attitude, and ecological practice. The study adopted a qualitative case-study design integrating ethnographic fieldwork and philosophical analysis. Data were collected from 58 purposively selected participants, including elders, lineage heads, traditional healers, ritual specialists, adult community members, youth, Christian leaders, and a Muslim leader. Methods included 12 key-informant interviews, eight focus group discussions, participant observation, spatial and material documentation, and artefact analysis. Data were analysed through open coding, axial coding, thematic analysis, and salience-weighted matrices. The findings reconstruct five domains of Wakara religious life: clan-spirit cosmology, traditional specialists, vital-force interpretations of illness, elder-mediated knowledge transmission, and the ecological roles of Christian and Islamic institutions. The article shows that clan gods, witches, healers, and ancestors shape values attached to life, land, sacred places, and moral order, producing taboos, rituals, sanctions, and stewardship practices that sustain ecological responsibility in a biocultural landscape.