Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses peasant responses to climate change in Zimbabwe since 1992 within the context of indigenous knowledge, 'science' and government policy over time. It argues that communal responses to environmental phenomenon were complex, fluid and dynamic, depending on local realities.

Paper long abstract:

For centuries, agricultural activities have formed the bedrock for African economies and rural livelihoods. Indeed, the vast majority of Africa’s burgeoning population depend on rain-fed agriculture for subsistence. Yet, the physical environment on which agrarian processes take place has not remained static: climatic patterns and the land itself have changed over time owing to natural and anthropogenic processes. Within this context, this paper discusses the impact of erratic rainfall and periodic disasters such as floods on agricultural yields and food security since 1992, when Zimbabwe experienced one of the worst droughts on record. Using one of the most arid districts in Zimbabwe as a case study, it delineates the quotidian responses of communities to environmental change and diminished agrarian productivity within the local socio-cultural contexts, government agricultural and environmental policy and ‘science’. It employs ethnographic data, oral interviews and primary documentary sources to examine peasant interactions with their land amid unpredictable climatic conditions and state policy over time. Engaging ( scholarship on the nexus between indigenous knowledge systems and ‘western science’ in Africa, this article, shows previously unexplored ways in which communal responses to environmental phenomenon are complex, fluid and dynamic: peasant farmers embrace and discard aspects of both indigenous (cultural) knowledge and ‘science’ depending on circumstances selectively. In so doing, peasants subtly circumvented and resisted aspects of government policy they felt did not serve their interests while embracing what they perceived as beneficial policy as they carve their own niche as they respond to climate change and diminished livelihoods.