Belonging is in our biology. An absence of belonging has negative and devastating effects on people, both physically and psychologically. This article aims to outline the importance of belonging for own lives and for the people around us, and to provide an overview of current thought, research and practice in the field as it relates to, informs and draws from psychological science (Kelly-Ann Allen, 2019).

The sense of belonging and identification involves the feeling, belief and expectation that one fits in the group and has a place there, a feeling of acceptance by the group, and a willingness to sacrifice for the group. (Macmillan & Chavis, 1986).

Belonging has been a hard construct for researchers to define and conceptualise because its meaning is often drawn from what predicts it or what outcomes emerge from experiencing it (Kelly-Ann Allen, 2024). It is well known that being part of something and feeling like you belong somewhere, such as in a group, feels good to most people (Kelly-Ann Allen, 2024). It is a pathway to self-actualisation. 

People are frequently caught in the hold between the need to belong and the fear of exclusion. However, these needs might be expressed differently under different belongingness conditions, where other powerful social processes are accentuated. Thus, the need to belong and social exclusion are concepts that are subjectively appraised based on one’s social relations (Saga Pardede, Velibor Bobo Kovač, 2023).

Belonging significantly impacts student wellbeing, achievement behaviour, and mental health, making it a critically important topic for study. Psychologically speaking, we must acknowledge the importance of belonging as a basic human need. One way to destroy a people is to disrupt their belonging. There is a need for a country or institution to develop policies and practices centred on belonging. If not, then we might create a situation whereby others may begin to think, believe or even conceive that they can belong as much as those who have ecological and historical ties to a place. This is what should push all Ugandans to question the decision of the Netherlands that it will send immigrants rejected by Amsterdam to Uganda.

The immigrants belong elsewhere. If they come to Uganda, they will not only experience the fundamental problem of not belonging but will disrupt the ecologies of Uganda and by extension the belongings of the Ugandan indigenes who will be compelled either to interact with them of give away their belonging to them.

According to Geoffrey L Cohen (2022) belonging is the feeling of being a part of a group that values, respects, and cares for us – a feeling that we can all cultivate in even the smallest corners of social life. In Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, Stanford University professor Geoffrey L. Cohen draws on his own and others’ groundbreaking scientific research to offer simple, concrete solutions for fostering a sense of belonging. These solutions can generate surprisingly significant and long-lasting benefits. Small but powerful actions can bolster belonging- actions such as encouraging people to reflect on their core values before they face a challenge or expressing belief in someone’s capacity to reach a higher standard.

When on November 13, 2023 I wrote an article by the title, The History of Busoga and the Concept of Natural Belonging, I was motivated by the negative influences on the indigenous groups that were sweeping across Uganda. Principal among these were the policies of the government of Uganda regarding forestry, environment, water, fishing, agriculture and science, refugees and investors to name a few, which tended to be driven by the falsehood that traditional-cultural ways of life and belonging were primitive and should be replaced by what the governors think are modern ways of living and belonging.

The Uganda government’s refocusing on Indians as the engine of economic development and on the Chinese as the source of foreign financing of development projects, simultaneously with building a refugee economy is threatening the natural belonging of Ugandans. We can now hear Indians demanding that they are recognised as one of the tribes of Uganda. Next time it will be the Chinese also demanding belonging. Yet we know that the Indians and Chinese are simply extending their ecological footprints in Uganda.

In fact, the greatest threat to the science of natural belonging is the government of Uganda which always begins with the erroneous view that what it thinks and chooses in environment and development is always right and supreme and should not be challenged by alternative thinking, reasoning and choices.

In this article I want to focus on the science of natural belonging and the threats that promise to make Uganda unable to belong to the 21st Century let alone to the 22nd century.

First, what is science?

For the purposes of this article, I will define it as “Science is a way of discovering what’s in the universe and how those things work today, how they worked in the past and how they are likely to work in the future”.

Second what is science for all?

There is wrong thinking in Uganda government that the process of scientific discovery is limited to professional scientists working in labs. Yet, every one of us in good sense of mind engages in scientific thinking every day and may not even realise it. All our day today activities involve making observations and analysing evidence towards arriving at the best answer to a problem that makes sense of all the available facts. One need not be a so-called scientist who works in a lab to all this.   Accordingly, it does not make sense to distinguish between scientists and non-scientists.

Many psychologists argue that the way individual humans learn (especially as children) bears a lot of similarity to the progress of science: both children and scientists make observations, consider evidence, test ideas, and hold on to the ideas that work and discard those that do not.

We all think science. Many aspects of scientific thinking are just extensions of the way you probably think every day. Scientific habits of mind can be applied to an everyday situation. Scientists use such ways of thinking to scrutinise their topics of study – whether that’s human behaviour or neutron stars – and one can use the same tools in one’s own life.

Besides, taking a scientific outlook on life makes the world an interesting place – but on a more practical level, you can also use scientific knowledge and ways of thinking to make informed decisions.

We often get personal in our use of science to approach everyday issues we face in living. While science doesn’t dictate which choice is the right one, it does give us important background knowledge to inform our decisions.

Third what is natural belonging?

In this article, I want us to understand natural belonging as ecological belonging. As Kate Barranco has put it Humanity and the natural world have always been interconnected. As humans, we play an intricate and symbiotic role within the world’s ecosystem. We cultivate the Earth and it cultivates us. This is ecological belonging. It is our ongoing interconnected relationship between ourselves, each other and our broader natural environment. It is our relationship to and with place. Our personal and planetary wellbeing is rooted in this sense of belonging”.

Indeed, by embracing ecological belonging, together we can individually and collectively work towards creating a more sustainable and harmonious future, where humans coexist with nature in a mutually beneficial way. Everyone is on their own personal journey of reconnection. To see others’ Ecological Belonging journeys or to learn more about what you can do to engage in Ecological Belonging.  Research shows that exposure to Nature is correlated with improved wellbeing and a stronger sense of belonging (Nature Canada).

The human species, Homo sapiens, is viewed as part of the totality of planet Earth but with the potential to achieve an ecological leadership role by developing a sense of belonging and by recognising the need for environmental responsibility in action towards the basic will of all components of the totality to survive and prosper (Belbin, 2024).

Fourth what is Science of Natural Belonging?

Natural belonging implies connectedness. Thus, the science of natural belonging is science of connectedness in ecological terms. According to Nature Canada, connectedness is fundamental to the human condition. When someone is exposed to nature, there is a sense of connection to nature, of belonging that scientists have named “nature-relatedness.” Unfortunately, at least in Uganda, nature is degrading as our capacity to conserve it is declining.

Simultaneously Ugandans are becoming less and less related to nature. Our natural belonging is depreciating.

Threats to Natural Belonging

Patrick Greenfield and Phoebe Weston (2021), citing Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services,  have identified the five key drivers of biodiversity loss as changes in land and sea use; direct exploitation of natural resources; climate change; pollution; and invasion of alien species. This is thinking global. However, these same global key drivers of biodiversity loss also manifest themselves locally, nationally and regionally to erode natural belonging. I have pointed out elsewhere in the article that in Uganda how else natural belonging is being eroded in Uganda.

Let me repeat what I said to cap the article with the particular threats to natural belonging in Uganda: ecologically and environmentally unconscious policies in various sectors of the economy; opening the ecologies and environments to almost unregulated refugees; building refugee economy in Uganda; sacrificing the natural ecologies and environments to exploitation by mainly Indians and Chinese ostensibly to develop Uganda economically and industrially; preferential allowing of nomadic pastoralists to settle and graze their cattle their long horned cattle in lands, which  biologically, culturally and historically belong to settled communities of cultivators; and failure to manage time and rubbish in economic development undertaking and undervaluing ecological and environmental development in the totality of development.

The issues of refugees and destruction of natural belonging by refugees are critical in ecological-environmental dynamics. Nick Haswell (2023), in his article “Nature and Belonging in the Lives of Young Refugees: A Relational Wellbeing Perspective”, explores the relationship between nature contact, wellbeing and belonging in the resettlement experiences of young refugees in Finland. He considers how subjective, material and relational dimensions of wellbeing arise and interrelate within refugees’ encounters with nature and how these encounters link with refugees’ developing sense of belonging to people and places in Finland. He describes how, in the context of refugee resettlement, nature encounters can foster a sense of belonging in three ways: through restoration and attachment in the present, through maintaining links with the past, and through shaping desires about a future in which to thrive.

Considering refugees’ sense of belonging in Finland as part of the relational wellbeing generated, in part, from their encounters with nature, these three aspects of belonging represent particular interrelations between subjective, material and relational dimensions of refugees’ wellbeing. There is need for such studies to be carried out in Uganda, which has become the haven for refugees globally, with some countries such as the Netherlands looking to her to resolve their refugee problems by admitting refugees rejected by them. Earlier the UK had chosen Rwanda as a destination for refugees rejected by it. Given the sweet talking by the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, such refugees may end up in Uganda where the government has a high affinity for refugees at the expense of natural belonging of Ugandans.

• A Tell report / By Oweyegha-Afunaduula / Environmental Historian and Conservationist Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis (CCTAA), Seeta, Mukono, Uganda.

About the Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis (CCTAA)

The CCTAA was innovated by Hyuha Mukwanason, Oweyegha-Afunaduula and Mahir Balunywa in 2019 to the rising decline in the capacity of graduates in Uganda and beyond to engage in critical thinking and reason coherently besides excellence in academics and academic production. The three scholars were convinced that after academic achievement the world outside the ivory tower needed graduates that can think critically and reason coherently towards making society and the environment better for human gratification. They reasoned between themselves and reached the conclusion that disciplinary education did not only narrow the thinking and reasoning of those exposed to it but restricted the opportunity to excel in critical thinking and reasoning, which are the ultimate aim of education. They were dismayed by the truism that the products of disciplinary education find it difficult to tick outside the boundaries of their disciplines; that when they provide solutions to problems that do not recognise the artificial boundaries between knowledges, their solutions become the new problems. They decided that the answer was a new and different medium of learning and innovating, which they characterised as “The Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis” (CCTAA).

Further Reading

AAAS S-STEM REC (2023). Fostering a Sense of Belonging Through Nature and Nurture in STEM. https://sstemrec.aaas.org/blog/fostering-a-sense-of-belonging-through-nature-and-nurture-in-stem/ 27 November 2023. Visited on 17 October 2024.

Abilities (2024). The Natural World and Our Sense of Belonging. bilities.ca/belonging/the-natural-world-and-our-sense-of-belonging/ 17 October 2024 Visited 17 October 2024 at 12.18 pm EAT

Geoffrey L. Cohen (2022). Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides. Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Belonging-Science-Creating-Connection-Bridging/dp/1324006188 Visited on 17 October 2024

Holli-Anne Passmore, Ashley N Krause (2023). The Beyond Human Natural World: Providing Meaning and Making Meaning

Israel Joshua Chukwubueze (2024). The Science of Belonging: How to Find Your Place in the World and Connect with Others. https://www.amazon.in/stores/Israel-Joshua-Chukwubueze/author/B0BHF5T1V7?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true Visited on 17 October 2024 at 16.22 pm EAT

Karin Peters, Monika Stodolska, Anna Horolets (2016). The role of natural environments in developing a sense of belonging: A comparative study of immigrants in the U.S., Poland, the Netherlands and Germany. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1618866715301229, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2016.04.001

Kate Barranco (024). Ecological Belonging: Reweaving Ourselves, Each Other and the Natural World. https://networkofwellbeing.org/2024/03/05/ecological-belonging-reweaving-ourselves-each-other-and-the-natural-world/#:~:text=This%20is%20Ecological%20Belonging.,in%20this%20sense%20of%20belonging. Visited on 17 October, 2024 at 11.22 am EAT

Kelly-Ann Allen (2019). Making Sense of Belonging. In Psych 2019 Vol 41 June Issue 3 https://psychology.org.au/for-members/publications/inpsych/2019/june/making-sense-of-belonging Visited 17 October 2024 at 16.39 pm EAT

Kelly-Ann Allen (2022). The Science Behind Our Need to Belong. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/sense-of-belonging/202202/the-science-behind-our-need-to-belong February 3 2022. Visited on 17 October 2024 at 11.55am EAT.

Liman Man Wai LI, Mengru Liu and Kenichi Ito (2021). The Relationship Between the Need to Belong and Nature Relatedness. Front. Psychol., 11 February 2021 Sec. Cultural Psychology Volume 12 – 2021  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638320 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638320/full Visited on 17 October 2024 at 16.12 pm EAT.

Macmillan, D. W., & Chavis, D. M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 6–23.

Megan A. Nadzan (2022). Threats to Belonging: Understanding the Impacts of Relational Closeness and Strength of Rejection.  Doctor of Philosophy in Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, 2022. 2, 2022

Nature Canada (?) How Nature Supports a Sense of Belonging ans Wellbeing. https://naturecanada.ca/discover-nature/lifestyle/i-belong-here-how-nature-supports-a-sense-of-belonging-and-wellbeing/ Visited on 17 October 2024 at 11 27 am EAT.

Nick Haswell (2023). Nature and Belonging in the Lives of Young Refugees: A Relational Wellbeing Perspective. Soc. Sci. 2023, 12(11), 611; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12110611, https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/11/611 Visited on 17 October 2024.

Patrick Greenfield and Phoebe Weston (2021). The Five Biggest Threats to Our Natural World and How We Can Stop Them. The Guadian, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/14/five-biggest-threats-natural-world-how-we-can-stop-them-aoe Visited on 17 October 2024.

Raman, S. (2014). Sense of Belonging. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2646

Saga Pardede, Velibor Bobo Kovač (2023). Distinguishing the Need to Belong and Sense of Belongingness: The Relation between Need to Belong and Personal Appraisals under Two Different Belongingness–Conditions.  Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ 2023 Feb 1;13(2):331–344. doi: 10.3390/ejihpe13020025., https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9955914/ Visited on 17 October 2024 at 15.58 pm EAT

Sally Boardman (2020). The Importance of Developing a Sense of Belonging. https://www.lifeskillsgroup.com.au/blog/belonging 4 February 2020 Visited on 17 October 2024 at 12.50 pm EAT.

Stephen Belbin (2024). PART II of “Totality and Belonging: Towards Eco-concept Synthesis”. https://www.abilities.ca/belonging/the-natural-world-and-our-sense-of-belonging/  Visited on 17 October 2024 at 11.50 am.