White Belonging and Brokerage at a South African Rural Frontier

Abstract

This paper discusses the case of a broker who played a key role in introducing a model of rural development to the Limpopo Province which is based on an adaptation of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme. His brokering is situated in the cultural politics of land, showing how enterprising whites may combine their roles as trustees in development projects with their, increasingly challenged, subject position as landowners. Demonstrating how this broker forges alignments, the paper emphasises the agentive roles of situated brokers who translate spatial conservation-development imaginaries across different contexts, produce a space of intermediation and help construct provisional natural-cultural assemblages. This assembling over time became increasingly disarticulated with societal pressures to deracialise land relations, highlighting in turn the moral ambiguity associated with liberal whites seeking to obtain a stake in societal transformation.

Defining Sustainable Placemaking in Spatial Planning: Lessons from a South African Case Study

“…In South Africa, a distinctive emphasis on political aspects emerges, addressing power imbalances rooted in historical contexts like colonialism and Apartheid [68][69][70]. Placemaking is posited as a tool for restorative justice [70], advocating for a bottom-up decision-making approach [71] and active community involvement [54,72].…”

“…In South Africa, a distinctive emphasis on political aspects emerges, addressing power imbalances rooted in historical contexts like colonialism and Apartheid [68][69][70]. Placemaking is posited as a tool for restorative justice [70], advocating for a bottom-up decision-making approach [71] and active community involvement [54,72]. Moreover, the literature underscores the role of placemaking in mitigating social challenges and fostering empowerment through collaborative processes, emphasising the importance of respect for diversity [54,72].…”

“…Concurrently, environmental management discourse post-2008 in South Africa focuses on challenges like pollution and urban decay [84]. Placemaking emerges as a crucial tool for sustainability, incorporating green initiatives and the conservation/preservation of built and natural resources [70,81]. This comprehensive synthesis provides a nuanced understanding of the academic developments surrounding the physical dimension of placemaking and its instrumental role in environmental management across diverse global and regional contexts.…”

Expertise, legitimacy and subjectivity: Three techniques for a will to govern low carbon energy projects in India

“…These positionings make the boundary between trustees and subjects fuzzy and porous. This porous boundary makes trusteeship “something more than mere intermediation between two ‘wholes’” (Leynseele, 2018: 871). Rather it becomes a socio-material assemblage in which relationships overlap and interchange.…”

“…Their actions result from a combination of the ethos of the programmes they seek to implement and the ethos of their social relationships (Chatterjee, 2004). These brokers live in a morally ambiguous space as “double agents” (Leynseele, 2018: 870). Identities are always intersectional.…”