Turning Landscapes into ‘Nothing’: A Narrative on Land Reform in Namibia

Hongslo, Eirin; Benjaminsen, Tor A.

doi:10.1080/08039410.2002.9666210

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…By ''institutional fact'' we mean a particular type of ''knowledge'' or scientific understanding, which has become embedded and routinized in bureaucratic institutions. The idea that ''nothing will be left'' as a result of exceeding the carrying capacity is frequently expressed within this discourse on communal range management (see Hongslo and Benjaminsen 2002). A discourse can be identified as a shared meaning of a phenomenon, which can be small or large and shared by a small or large group of people.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…15. The idea that ''nothing will be left'' as a result of exceeding the carrying capacity is frequently expressed within this discourse on communal range management (see Hongslo and Benjaminsen 2002). 16.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conservation policies in South Africa (and Africa, in general) have moved from the coercive conservation of colonial days toward community-based approaches, at least at the rhetorical level (Hulme and Murphree 2001;Dzingirai 2003); nevertheless, the ''need'' for livestock keepers to adhere to a defined carrying capacity in order to conserve rangeland resources and to achieve economic development remains an institutionalized ''fact.'' 1 This ''fact,'' which is the focus of this article, is part of a broader dominating discourse 2 in southern Africa on range management, environmental conservation, and agricultural development, which is shared by a network of actors (Hongslo and Benjaminsen 2002). Such actornetworks (Callon and Latour 1981;Keeley andScoones 2000, 2003) tend to establish, promote, and reproduce a particular discourse through their use of language and actions.…”

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confidence: 97%

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Land Reform, Range Ecology, and Carrying Capacities in Namaqualand, South Africa

Benjaminsen

Rohde

Sjaastad

et al. 2006

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

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In South African rangeland management, there is a long history of using the notion of carrying capacity as a central planning tool for environmental conservation and agricultural modernization. Today, in the new South Africa, the ''need'' for livestock keepers to adhere to a defined carrying capacity in order to conserve rangeland resources and to achieve economic development remains an institutionalized ''fact.'' In this article, we use interviews, livestock and rainfall data, policy documents, and aerial photos to discuss the idea of carrying capacity as it is currently used in the implementation of land reform in Namaqualand in the Northern Cape Province. This article is a contribution at the interface of human ecology and political ecology, linking environmental issues to economic constraints, land rights, social justice, and values. Policymakers and extension services usually see carrying capacity as a purely technical issue. We argue that this is problematic because it gives privilege to environmental sustainability and to one particular perception of the ideal landscape at the expense of livelihood security and poverty alleviation. It also perpetuates the colonial myth that the private ranch system is an ideal one, independent of disparate production goals and unequal economic opportunities and constraints, and it ignores evidence going back more than half a century that the Namaqualand range is capable of sustaining livestock densities far greater than those recommended. The winners that emerge from the current policy focus on carrying capacity are the few emergent black commercial farmers as well as conservationist interests; the losers are the majority of poor stockowners in the communal areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 97%

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Land Reform, Range Ecology, and Carrying Capacities in Namaqualand, South Africa

Benjaminsen

Rohde

Sjaastad

et al. 2006

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

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“…In the Geoforum issue, Robbins (2006) for instance, provides, a topically related study to ours in carrying out a narrative analysis of moose management in Yellowstone. In this study, our own previous experience with studying narratives and discourses in Africa within a political ecology framework (Adger et al 2001;Hongslo and Benjaminsen 2002;Svarstad 2004;Benjaminsen et al 2006), and the emerging trend of bringing political ecology home, has inspired us to provide a political ecology analysis of an environmental conflict in a rural community in Norway.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding traditionalist opposition to modernization: narrative production in a norwegian mountain conflict

Benjaminsen

Svarstad

2008

Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography

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. In Gausdal, a mountainous community in southern Norway, a conflict involving dogsledding has dominated local politics during the past two decades. In order to understand local protests against this activity, in this article we apply discourse analysis within the evolving approach of political ecology. In this way, we also aim at contributing to the emerging trend of bringing political ecology “home”. To many people, dogsledding appears as an environmentally friendly outdoor recreation activity as well as a type of adventure tourism that may provide new income opportunities to marginal agricultural communities. Hence, at a first glance, the protests against this activity may be puzzling. Looking for explanations for these protests, this empirical study demonstrates how the opposition to dogsledding may be understood as grounded in four elements of a narrative: (1) environmental values are threatened; (2) traditional economic activities are threatened; (3) outsiders take over the mountain; and (4) local people are powerless. Furthermore, we argue that the narrative is part of what we see as a broader Norwegian “rural traditionalist discourse”. This discourse is related to a continued marginalization of rural communities caused by increasing pressure on agriculture to improve its efficiency as well as an “environmentalization” of rural affairs. Thus, the empirical study shows how opposition to dogsledding in a local community is articulated as a narrative that fits into a more general pattern of opposition to rural modernization in Norway as well as internationally.

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“…The widespread perception of communal farming in southern Africa as ecologically destructive and economically inefficient is rooted in colonial views of 'native' African farming (Maddox 2002). This perception is part of a broader dominating discourse in southern Africa on range management, environmental conservation and agricultural development, which is shared by an influential network of actors (Hongslo and Benjaminsen 2002;Benjaminsen et al 2006). Such actornetworks (Callon and Latour 1981;Keeley and Scoones 2003) tend to establish, promote and reproduce a particular discourse through the use of language and actions.…”

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Between Global Interests and Local Needs: Conservation and Land Reform in Namaqualand, South Africa

Benjaminsen¹,

Kepe²,

Bråthen³

2008

Africa

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This article presents the case of the creation and expansion of Namaqua National Park in Namaqualand, South Africa, to highlight the contradictions between global interests in biodiversity conservation and local livelihoods. Despite the policy shift in the conservation literature from ‘fortress’ to community-based conservation, we argue that in practice conservation still tends to dominate when there is a trade-off between Western-style conservation and support to the livelihoods of marginalized communities. This can again be explained by the hegemony of a conservation discourse that is shared by a network of actors. The article highlights the role played by powerful environmental organizations and wealthy individuals supporting conservation at the expense of land redistribution in Namaqualand. The combination of scientific research and finances provided by this actor-network aided the creation and expansion of the Park. Local people, however, see the expansion of the Park as direct and unfair competition for land that they wish to acquire through the land redistribution programme, as well as an indirect challenge to their local livelihoods. Whatever the merits of their case, it seems clear that communities aspiring to more land, together with advocates of human rights and poverty alleviation, remain on the margins in terms of policy influence, especially when they pursue goals that are perceived by the conservation advocates to be in conflict with those of biodiversity conservation.

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Turning Landscapes into ‘Nothing’: A Narrative on Land Reform in Namibia

Cited by 7 publications

References 20 publications

Land Reform, Range Ecology, and Carrying Capacities in Namaqualand, South Africa

Land Reform, Range Ecology, and Carrying Capacities in Namaqualand, South Africa

Understanding traditionalist opposition to modernization: narrative production in a norwegian mountain conflict

Between Global Interests and Local Needs: Conservation and Land Reform in Namaqualand, South Africa

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