An Afrocentric Ecoreading of 'Coloniality of Power' in Prophet Hosea's Narrative.

This work examines the environmental challenges occasioned by Samaria's 'imperial singleness' in prophet Hosea's text from an African perspective. The interaction between the 'seat of power' in Samaria and imperial forces in Hosea's time appears to have negatively influenced Israel's attitude towards land use (Hos 12:1, 2; 1 Ki 21:1–28; 2 Ki 9:26). Such interface becomes evident in a shift, by Samaria's 'seat of power', from Yahweh's prescribed land-use policy to those of their imperial masters—Assyria and Egypt. Despite Israel's liberation from Egypt by Yahweh during the exodus (Hos 11:1), their susceptibility to treaty alliances with these imperial forces remains vivid in Hosea's narrative (Hos 7:1–16; 12:1–2). Echoing the words of Ngwa, such an alliance seemingly classifies Samaria's monarchy as a 'localised imperial singularity' and a 'single hero' as against the 'communal oneness with the divine, humans and the earth itself'. This 'localised imperial singleness' and its effect on Israel's land was subjected to a critical engagement premised on the principles of interconnectedness and the voice of the earth, while a combination of Mburu's African Hermeneutics and Kavus' Ecological Hermeneutics is employed for the purpose of critical decolonial discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]