Drifting Rhinos and Fluid Properties: The Turn to Wildlife Production in Western Zimbabwe

Abstract

paper presents and analyzes a number of tensions that arose in the shift from extensive livestock production to wildlife ranching and tourism in a dispersed community of white farmers in western Zimbabwe. It sketches the broader context of that shift and considers some of its effects, including those on the small (black) farmers of neighbouring Communal Areas. The tensions highlighted and manifested between the ranchers of Mlilo include the necessary movement from a characteristic view of wildlife as 'vermin', destructive of the conditions for livestock (and crop) production, to an appreciation that they are an exploitable and valuable resource ('ecological capital'); and how inherited views and practices concerning the boundaries of private landed property are subverted by the demands of wildlife ranching.

From “bush” to “farm”: Emplacement and displacement in contemporary white Zimbabwean narratives

“…Indeed, the land reform of the 2000s invited "apocalyptic headlines" such as "A holocaust against our wildlife" (Wolmer, 2007: 1). For Suzuki (2001), who cites the example of farming in Mlilo, Zimbabwe, wildlife ranching "enables [white] farmers to refashion their identities with the aim of legitimizing their continued presence in an increasingly hostile post-colonial terrain" (2001: 603). These exertions are represented as affirmations of whites' affinity to the land and opportunities for white farmers "to reinvent themselves as good citizens, rather than white ones" (2001: 604).…”

“…Suzuki suggestively argues that environmental conservationists (such as the Rogers) seek new forms of legitimacy via "interactions with biologists, international donors, politicians and tourists"; further, "wildlife production affords farmers the opportunity to interface with the global arena vis-à-vis the emotionally and morally charged domain of conservation", and from "this relatively apoliticized angle, people insert themselves into both national and international debates concerning citizenship and human rights, strategically invoking their self-articulated roles as conservationists working in the interests of the nation as a whole (Suzuki, 2001: 603). Such gestures, of course, downplay the financial motives that underlie wildlife conservation (Suzuki, 2001;Wolmer, 2005Wolmer, , 2007.…”

The Political Economy of Wildlife Conservation and Decline in Kenya

“…The landowners can then work out economic opportunities available to them given their property rights. The experiment with private conservancies in Namibia and (at certain points) Zimbabwe has demonstrated the power of landowner-government partnerships in wildlife conservation (de Alessi, 2000;Jones, 2010;Mapedza & Ivan, 2006;Rihoy, Chirozva, & Anstey, 2010;Suzuki 2001). These examples showed that although there may be no silver bullets to address the challenge of conservation (Roger & Bhaskar, 2001), enhanced conservation is possible if hosting and preserving wildlife becomes a paying enterprise for landowners.…”

“…environmental officer quote above). If wildlife has been replacing livestock in countries such as Zimbabwe (de Alessi, 2000;Suzuki, 2001), that shows that there is more than a bovine mania at play in Kenya. It is the failure of the present wildlife regime to demonstrate that wildlife is a greater asset than livestock.…”

The New Scramble for the African Countryside

“…Over time, groups of those left landless by the re-zoning exercise and those impoverished by the subsequent colonial and post-colonial policies, invaded the poorly guarded protected areas (Masona, 1987). In small but increasing numbers, Africans settled in wildlife areas, and expanded their hunting to include commercial game ranches which are (to date) owned by the economically powerful but politically weak white farmers (Pitman, 1980;Suzuki, 2001). This poaching increased during the liberation war when the guerrillas, nationalists and traditional religious leadership singled out colonial wildlife management as central to African disenfranchisement (Lan, 1984;Pitman, 1980).…”