Parks And People In Postcolonial Societies

Against the background of colonial and postcolonial experiences, this volume shows that power relations and stereotypes embedded in the original Western idea of a national park are a continuing reality of contemporary national and transnational parks. The volume seeks to dispel the myth that colonial beliefs and practices in protected areas have ended with the introduction of ‘new’ nature conservation policies and practices. It explores this continuity against the backdrop of the development of the national park idea in the West, and its trajectories in colonial and postcolonial societies, particularly southern Africa. This volume analyses the dynamic relations between people and national parks and assesses these in southern Africa against broader experiences in postcolonial societies. It draws examples from a broad range of situations and places. It reinserts issues of prejudices into contemporary national park systems, and accounts for continuities and interruptions in national parks ideals in different contexts. Its interpretation of material transcends the North-South divide. This volume is accessible to readers from different academic backgrounds. It is of special interest to academics, policymakers and Non-Governmental Organisations. This book can also be used as prescribed or reference material in courses taught at university.

The year 2013 marked the 100th anniversary of the 1913 Land Act in South Africa which legalised the violent dispossession and alienation of the African majority from the land. It is common cause that the alienation of land for conservation purposes, introduced to Africa under colonial rule, has continued more or less uninterrupted until today. However, while nature conservation practices inevitably raise challenging questions relating to land and land use, there has thus far been little concentrated effort to bring together scholars working on the land question, particularly around issues of land tenure, with those whose work focuses on questions of nature construction and the social impacts of conservation in an African context. Compiled from research presented at a ground-breaking interdisciplinary conference held at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, in 2012, the chapters in this book made their first appearance in a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary African Studies (JCAS) in July 2013. The book brings critical interdisciplinary analyses of the complex interrelations between contemporary (neoliberal) conservation practices in post-colonial Africa, into conversation with the well-trodden territory of land use and contested land issues on the continent. Anchored by an intellectual curiosity about the extent to which past practices continue into the present and with what consequences, the book provides fresh insights into the complex relationship between land and conservation in contemporary Africa.

This book presents an overview of different institutional arrangements for tourism, biodiversity conservation and rural poverty reduction in eastern and southern Africa. These approaches range from conservancies in Namibia, community-based organizations in Botswana, conservation enterprises in Kenya, private game reserves in South Africa, to sport hunting in Uganda and transfrontier conservation areas. The book presents a comparative analysis of these arrangements and highlights that most arrangements emerged in the 1990s through either a decentralized or centralized change trajectory that was sponsored by donors. They aim to address some of the challenges of the ‘fortress’ types of conservation by combining principles of community-based natural resource management with a neoliberal approach to conservation, evident in the use of tourism as the main mechanism for accruing benefits from wildlife. The book illustrates the empirical relevance of these novel arrangements by presenting their growth in numbers and discuss how these arrangements differ in their form. With respect to the conservation and development impacts of these arrangements, we show that they have secured large amounts of land for conservation, but also generated governance challenges and disputes on tourism benefit sharing, affecting the stability of these arrangements to generate socioeconomic and conservation benefits.

This book engages with contemporary African human rights struggles including land, property, gender equality and legal identity. Through ethnographic field studies it situates claims-making by groups and individuals that have been subject to injustices and abuses, often due to different forms of displacement, in specific geographical, historical and political contexts. Exploring local communities’ complexities and divided interests it addresses the ambiguities and tensions surrounding the processes whereby human rights have been incorporated into legislation, social and economic programs, legal advocacy, land reform, and humanitarian assistance. It shows how existing relations of inequality, domination and control are affected by the opportunities offered by emerging law and governance structures as a plurality of non-state actors enter what previously was considered the sole regulatory domain of the nation state.

This report tells how to ensure that tourism follows a sustainable path and that it contributes to the sustainable management of protected areas. Guidelines are presented to help readers understand protected area tourism and its management, and practical suggestions are based on theory and practice from around the world. Coverage includes biodiversity and conservation, planning for protected area tourism, culturally sensitive design and operation, visitor management, and human resources. There is no subject index. Eagles teaches at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

In 2000 United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals (UN MDGs), committing the member nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of specific targets with a deadline of 2015. Related to the UN MDGs, tourism is increasingly seen as a promising tool for poverty reduction, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development, for example. Thus, the industry has become an important policy tool for community and regional development in many developing countries and the expectations for tourism and its social and economic outcomes have evolved to a high level. However, there are still many challenges to overcome in the relationship between tourism industry, development and poverty reduction. This book aims to discuss the promises, challenges and outcomes of tourism in development with a specific aim of drawing together research related to tourism and UN MDGs. The papers discuss what lessons can be learnt and conclusions drawn from the utilisation of tourism for development and poverty reduction. What emerges from this collection is a set of interesting results and notions which both support and challenge the connections between tourism and development and the new role of tourism in global development. This book is an extended version of a special issue published in Current Issues in Tourism.

Nature Conservation in Southern Africa. Morality and Marginality: Towards Sentient Conservation? proposes ways to study linkages between the marginality, subjectivity and agency of both human and animals, promoting a new approach to conservation referred to as ‘sentient conservation’.

The Nature of Heritage: The New South Africa is unique in revealing the conflicts inherent in preserving both natural and cultural heritage, by examining the archaeological, ethnographic and economic evidence of a nation's attempts to master its past and its future. Provides a classic example of how nations attempt to overcome a negative heritage through past mastering of their histories Evaluates the continuing dominance of nature and conservation over concerns for cultural heritage Employs ethnographic and archaeological methodologies to reveal how the past is processed into a new national heritage Identifies heritage as therapy, exemplified in the strategy for repairing legacies of racial and ethnic difference in post-apartheid South Africa Highlights the role of archaeological heritage sites, national parks and protected areas in economic development and social empowerment Explores how nature trumps culture and the global implications of the new configurations of heritage