In recent years perceptions of South Africa's arid Karoo have been radically transformed. Whereas the Karoo was once regarded as a desolate wasteland, it is now being punted as a positively trendy region, both to live in and to explore. Many enterprising niche tourism operators have positioned themselves to profit from this phenomenon. This article briefly articulates the concept of 'the Sublime' and shows how the nexus of cognitive associations suggested by 'space' and 'nothingness' is being harnessed to rebrand the Karoo as a dynamic and desirable destination. The paper also reflects on how these developments might redound to the benefit of local communities and flags some of the tensions occasioned by the intrusion of tourism into a relatively undeveloped region.
There is an increasing number and variety of creative small enterprises in South Africa's desert Karoo region. The Karoo has come to acquire considerable cachet in recent years and is being rebranded as a desirable tourist destination. It has also attracted many well-qualified and experienced migrants from urban areas. This paper draws on mainstream 'lifestyle media' coverage to describe this phenomenon and examines it through a lens informed by Richard Florida's influential work, The Rise of the Creative Class. The concept of the 'creative class' refers to those people who make a living from creative pursuits, including artists, designers and knowledge-based professionals. The paper analyses a sample of entrepreneurs and in-migrants to the Karoo, and speculates on what informs the recent re-visioning of the region. It posits the new rural 'creative class' as a form of social capital and explores some of the implications of this for the socio-economic upliftment of the Karoo.
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