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- Convenors:
-
Ute Dieckmann
(University of Cologne)
Kletus Likuwa (University of Namibia)
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- Chair:
-
Kletus Likuwa
(University of Namibia)
- Format:
- Panel
- Streams:
- Anthropology (x) Conservation & Land Governance (y)
- Location:
- Philosophikum, S84
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 31 May, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
This panel intends to explore the role and importance of indigenous ontologies in relation to nature conservation efforts in Southern Africa's past, present, and future.
Long Abstract:
Through the creation of protected areas, a specific form of nature conservation found its way to Southern Africa during the colonial period. The ‘fortress conservation’ model rearranged the colonial territories through the separation of humans from nature; local people were evicted from their lands. The model was based on a particular anthropocentric ontology entailing strict Cartesian dualisms.
The post-colonial countries had to find ways to deal with the colonial legacy of fortress conservation and developed new approaches to nature conservation taking local populations into account. Community-based conservation came into being. Although the new approaches aim to overcome the strict spatial nature-culture divide, they are still grounded in a particular (anthropocentric) ontology. Recognizing and including indigenous relational ontologies could be an important step in the decolonization of nature conservation on the subcontinent and contribute to environmental and cognitive justice.
In line with the Political Ontology framework promoted by Blaser, de la Cadena, Burman and others, this panel invites contributions engaging with ontological considerations in the context of nature conservation past, present, and future politics and practices in Southern Africa. Contributions could either
• analyse empirical studies of cases where indigenous ontologies were excluded from or found their way into policies of nature conservation;
• provide theoretical contributions on indigenous ontologies via-à-vis community-based conservation;
• suggest possible paths for the integration of indigenous ontologies in Southern African nature conservation policies and practices.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 31 May, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
Taking the former relationship of Haiǁom with the Etosha National Park in Namibia as a case study, this paper explores the neglect of indigenous and local ‘worldings’ within Namibian nature conservation policies and practices and makes suggestions for future pathways.
Paper long abstract:
The south-eastern area of today’s Etosha National Park in Namibia has been inhabited since time immemorial by Haiǁom, a group of (former) hunter-gatherers. Etosha was proclaimed as a game reserve in 1907. Haiǁom were still allowed to live in the area until they were expelled in the 1950s due to then-dominant ideas of fortress conservation and the need for labour outside the protected area. In recent years, Haiǁom have been provided with several resettlement farms by the Namibian government, which might be understood as a compensation for the land dispossession they experienced due to colonial nature conservation efforts.
In this paper, I will briefly outline – to follow Blaser’s (e.g. 2013) terminology, the ‘worlding’ of Haiǁom living in Etosha, based on long-term field research and the involvement in a cultural mapping project with Haiǁom in Etosha. Haiǁom (both collectively and individually) maintained manifold relationships with the land, specific areas and places, with human and beyond-the-human beings - e.g. animals and spiritual beings - in Etosha. They were, I would argue, an integral part of the Etosha ecology. From this perspective, I will reassess the resettlement approach taken by the Namibian Government.
This will then serve as an entry point to discuss the neglect of indigenous and local ‘worldings’ within nature conservation policies and practices in Namibia in the past and present. Furthermore, I will suggest possible paths in future for the integration of indigenous and local ‘worldings’ and outline, what could be achieved by this integration.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the political ontology of heritage conservation at the Tsodilo Hills, Botswana: a state ontology of nation-building and national unity, an international heritagization ontology, an international ontology of development, and Indigenous ontologies of cultural preservation.
Paper long abstract:
Like the “fortress model” of nature conservation that arose during the colonial period of Southern Africa, certain archaeological sites and landscapes in this region were also depopulated to protect cultural heritage. One case is the Tsodilo Hills in Botswana, which was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. In preparation for this designation, the government relocated two small communities and fenced off the hills, in which hundreds of rock art panels and numerous archaeological sites dating back to the Middle Stone Age are located. This paper examines the political ontology of heritage conservation at Tsodilo, specifically a state ontology of nation-building and national unity, an international heritagization ontology, an international ontology of development, and Indigenous ontologies of cultural preservation. It addresses the participation of the communities in tourism development programs during increasingly restrictive conservation measures, and it highlights the potential of integrating their Indigenous ontologies into future conservation policies and practices.
Paper short abstract:
This paper presents the core recursiveness of motherhood motif in rain-invoking rituals that took place during my fieldwork in Maasai village, in Tanzania. I present spatial and temporal features and symbolism of Alamal – the participants of the rituals, ritual songs and its procession.
Paper long abstract:
Last two years Tanzania, and Maasai steppes in particular faced droughts to the point that cattle were dying. Maasai like other communities have been experiencing droughts and they have proper institutionalised rituals for invoking rain. The paper employs discourse analysis to describe and characterise the ritual spatial and temporal features from Maasai point of view and then theorise them with nature conservation perspectives/theories. Taking the praxeology and discourse analysis-a theory of purposefulness of human action- the paper analyses the composition of Alamaal, the spaces it occupies and the songs that are sung during the ritual. Basically, the Alamal for invoking rain is composed of elderly women, middle-aged mothers, pregnant women, recently married girls and newly born babies who are the key participant of the ritual for invoking rain. In their songs, they beseech god not to let their children and cattle die of drought. While singing pregnant women will lie on their backs and open their bellies to face the skies. This says much about the Maasai conception of life, nature conservation and motherhood.