RELATIONAL HARMONY IN ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS: RECONCEPTUALISING EQUALITY THROUGH TUKO SAWA PRAXIS
Abstract Contemporary conceptions of equality remain anchored in materialist and anthropocentric frameworks that measure justice primarily through distributive parity in resources, opportunities, or outcomes. This paper interrogates these assumptions and proposes an alternative: equality as relational harmony within interdependent ecological systems. Drawing on systems theory, ecological philosophy, Ubuntu ethics, and the Tanzanian philosophy of Tuko Sawa (“We are OK / We are Equal”), the paper argues that humans are ontologically embedded in broader biophysical webs of life. While distributive metrics retain value for addressing immediate intra-human inequities, they fall short of capturing the relational and systemic conditions essential for sustained flourishing. Tuko Sawa , as developed within the Tuko Sawa Society and the Harmony Generation movement, affirms that all human beings are equal by creation and intrinsically interconnected with one another and the natural world. O...