Paper long abstract:

Contemporary discussions regarding conservation in Africa highlight that both causal explanations of environmental change and their remedying policies are based on western-informed narratives or received wisdoms that have become accepted and uncontested environmental truth claims. However, the aim of this paper is to highlight the potential usefulness of narratives in the local context of conservation through an analysis of the role of myth, magic and song in guiding behaviour towards natural resource use and conservation. Specifically, the paper will engage with Khwe San wildlife stories and elephant wisdom that were collected in the villages of Chetto, Omega III and Mashambo of the West Caprivi Game Park during a five month period of fieldwork conducted in Namibia. Discussion of this collection of fieldwork will highlight how these myths can assist in managing one of the most significant threats to rural people’s livelihood and the long-term conservation of one of Namibia’s most charismatic species: the increasing incidences of human elephant conflict.