Naming the Land

J. Taylor

Description

This book encompasses a history of identity-building amongst Khwe San people, and of contestations for authority over land and natural resources in Namibia’s West Caprivi. The politics of authority in this contested borderland area were significantly shaped by state and NGO interventions into local institutions and land use between the late 1930s and 2006. Julie J. Taylor pays close attention to the role of NGOs in these processes. She shows that, in their relationship with West Caprivi’s residents, NGOs unintentionally contributed towards the hardening and politicising of ethnic difference, including through the implementation of land mapping projects. At the same time, in their relationship with the state, NGOs often worked to ‘depoliticise’ struggles over authority, thus inadvertently reinforcing the state’s authority in the area.

Sujets

• Anthropology
• Social sciences
• Development studies

Informations

• Publié par: Basler Afrika Bibliographien
• Date de parution: 29 décembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9783905758535
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 14 Mo

Extrait

Naming the Land

Basel Namibia Studies Series

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Zedekia NgavirueP OLITICAL P ARTIESAND I NTEREST G ROUPSIN S OUTH W EST A FRICA (N AMIBIA ) A S TUDYOFA P LURAL S OCIETY (1972) (1997)

Wolfgang Werner‘N OONEWILLBECOMERICH ’. E CONOMYAND S OCIETYINTHE H ERERO R E - SERVESIN N AMIBIA , 1915–1946 (1998)

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Tony EmmettP OPULAR R ESISTANCEANDTHE R OOTSOF N ATIONALISMIN N AMIBIA , 1915–1966 (1999)

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12Julie J. TaylorN AMINGTHELAND . S AN I DENTITYAND C OMMUNITY C ONSERVATIONIN N AMIBIA ’ S : (67 & $35,9, 

J J. T ULIE AYLOR Introduction by William Beinart

Naming the Land San Identity and Community Conservation in 1DPLELDÑV :HVW &DSULYL

Basel Namibia Studies Series 12

Basler Afrika Bibliographien 2012

©2012 The authors ©2012 The photographers ©2012 Basler Afrika Bibliographien

Basler Afrika Bibliographien Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library Klosterberg 23 PO Box 2037 CH-4051 Basel Switzerland www.baslerafrika.ch

All rights reserved.

Efforts were made to trace the copyright holders of illustrations and maps used in this publication. We apologise for any incomplete or incorrect acknowledgements.

Cover photograph: Khwe women going to gather medicine near Chetto in Bwabwata/West Caprivi, 2006. Photographer: Julie Taylor

Basic Cover Design: VischerVettiger Basel

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Printed by John Meinert Printing (PTY) Ltd., Windhoek, Namibia 3ULQWHG RQ öWULSOH JUHHQ÷ SDSHU VL[W\ SHUFHQW VXJDU FDQH ķEUH FKORULQHIUHH VXVWDLQDEOH DĶRUHVWDWLRQ

ISBN 978-3-905758-25-2 ISSN 2234-9561

Contents

The Fortunes and Fragility of Community Conservation An Introduction by William Beinart

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction and Methodology Objectives and Structure Reasons for the study Objectives Questions and Themes Structure of the Study Research Methods Being Initiated into Local Politics Theoretical and Methodological Approaches The Dynamics of Working through an NGO Participant Observation and Informal Interaction 5HVHDUFKLQJ .KZH $JHQF\ 'LĶHUHQFH DQG WKH 0RUDO (FRQRP\ RI ,QHTXDOLW\ Interviews Ethics and Advocacy Analysis of Texts Terminology, Orthography and Footnote Style Conclusion

2 Identity, Authority and CBNRM Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in Southern Africa The Rise of the ‘New Conservation’ in Southern Africa &ULWLTXHV RI &%150 DQG $GGUHVVLQJ WKH 3ROLWLFV RI $XWKRULW\ DQG ,GHQWLW\ CBNRM in Namibia &ULWLTXHV RI WKH &RQVHUYDQF\ 3URJUDPPH Maps, Power-knowledge and Representation The Rise of Geographic Information Systems Social Theorists on GIS: A New Hegemonic Technology?

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GIS for Empowerment, and the Rise of Participatory GIS Indigenous People’s Countermapping Conclusions

 'LĶHUHQWLDWLQJ ö%XVKPHQ÷ IURP ö%DQWXV÷ ,GHQWLW\ LQ :HVW &DSULYL ô Ethnic Relations and Socio-political Change in the Pre-colonial and Early Colonial Periods State Contributions to the Construction of Ethnicity, 1930–1989 Veterinary Control, Border Guards and Political Authority The Khwe Military Identity Conclusion

 7KH 3ROLWLFV RI /DQG /HDGHUVKLS DQG ,GHQWLW\ ô Struggles over Land, Leadership and Natural Resources since Independence Impoverishment and Exclusion among the Khwe Chief Mbambo and the Khwe Traditional Authority Ethnic Contestations over Land The Case of N//goavaca Campsite Tracing Political Exclusion: Discourses on Khwe ‘Subversion’ The Secessionist Movement and the Angolan War Ethnicity, Authority and NGOs: Recipes for ‘Tribalism’ Conclusion

 &KLHIV &KDLUPHQ DQG WKH 3ROLWLFV RI &%150 ô Possibility and Disillusion: The Rise of CBNRM Marginalisation, Strategisation and Identity ‘Development’ at Last? The Struggle for Kyaramacan Association CBNRM, Traditional Authorities and the Politics of Hunting, 2006 The Election of a New Khwe Chief West Caprivi’s Trophy Hunting Concessions Kyaramacan Association and the Khwe Traditional Authority More Resources, More Exclusion? Contestations over Meat Distribution Keeping Kyaramacan Out of Ethnic ‘Politics’: NGO–Government Relations Conclusion

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79 80 80 82 88 91 95 97 101 106

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 &%150 PHHWV &RXQWHUPDSSLQJ .KZH1*2 0DSSLQJ ô Indigenous Rights, Environmental Discourses, and Mapping Technologies San Countermapping in Southern Africa Maps and GIS in Namibian CBNRM Discourse Transnational NGO Networks and Khwe Interests in Mapping Mapping West Caprivi: Exclusion, Visibility and ‘Depoliticisation’ Negotiating Boundaries, Zones and Legibility in the Park No Such Place as West Caprivi: Visibility and the Ethnic Politics of Toponyms Mbukushu Exclusion and IRDNC’s ‘Depoliticisation’ Social and Technical Disruptions of the Power to Name Conclusions

&RQFOXVLRQ 6DQ 1*2V DQG WKH 6WDWH Khwe Relationships with the State Khwe Relationships to NGOs NGO Relationships with the State CBNRM and Mapping, Governmentality and Visibility The Problem of ‘Indigeneity’: Implications for NGO Policy and CBNRM Mapping, Ethnicity and NGO Approaches in Ngamiland, Botswana The Future

Timeline of the Evolution of CNBRM in Namibia

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List of Acronyms

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Sources

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Index

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Basel Namibia Studies Series

In 1997,P. Schlettwein Publishing(PSP) launched theBasel Namibia Studies Series. Its pri- mary aim was to lend support to a new generation of research, scholars and readers emerg- ing with the independence of Namibia in 1990. Initially, the book series published crucially important doctoral theses on Namibian his- tory. It soon expanded to include more recent political, anthropological, media and cultural history studies by Namibian scholars. P. Schlettwein Publishing,as an independent publishing house, maintained the series in collaboration with theBasler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB), Namibia Resource Centre and Southern Africa Library in Switzerland. All share a commitment to encourage research on Africa in general and southern Africa in particular. Through the incorporation of PSP into theCarl Schlettwein Stiftung,the series, by then a consolidated platform for Namibian Stud- ies and beyond, was integrated into the publishing activities of the BAB. Academic publishing, whether from or about Namibia, remains limited. TheBasel Na- mibia Studies Seriescontinues to provide a forum for exciting scholarly work in the human and social sciences. The editors welcome contributions. For further information, or submission of manu- scripts, please contact theBasler Afrika Bibliographienat www.baslerafrika.ch.

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An Introduction

Julie Taylor has written an extraordinary book about a distinctive part of southern Africa – the Caprivi in Namibia. A tongue of land between Angola and Botswana, straddling the wa- WHUVKHG DQG ĸRRGSODLQV RI WKH =DPEH]L LW LV DQ DUHD RQ WKH SROLWLFDO DQG HFRQRPLF PDUJLQV of the subcontinent. Yet it has natural riches, not least wildlife. Caprivi is also the terrain of Khwe or Bushmen communities and some innovative NGOs. Dr Taylor spent an extended period interviewing in this region, sometimes pitching her tent during heavy rains in zones IUHTXHQWHG E\ HOHSKDQWV 6KH ZDONHG LQ WKH EXVK ZRUNHG RQ FROOHFWLQJ DQG LGHQWLI\LQJ XV- able plants, and participated in counting wildlife. She was observed as well as an observer, ZKHQ 1DPLELDQ LQWHOOLJHQFH RĹFHUV EHFDPH FRQFHUQHG DERXW WKH SROLWLFDO LPSOLFDWLRQV RI her research and NGO activity in the area. Her adventure and commitment have produced rich evidence and, in some senses, an unusually optimistic analysis of an impoverished and marginal rural area. 1 The focus of this book, initially a doctoral thesis, is the Khwe. In the period of South $IULFDQ UXOH WKH\ ZHUH ODUJHO\ RĶ WKH PDS VXERUGLQDWH WR $IULFDQ FRPPXQLWLHV DQG WKH South African state in Namibia. During the border war between South Africa and SWAPO, many Khwe from Angola and Namibia were employed by the South African army. This led some to choose the option of leaving for South Africa when Namibia became independent LQ  %XW WKH PDMRULW\ VWD\HG :KLOH WKH\ LQLWLDOO\ KDG D GLĹFXOW WLPH LQ SRVWFRORQLDO Namibia, their position has improved in recent years. Some of their territory is a wildlife reserve in which they have been allowed to stay. This is unusual in an African context; many national parks and reserves have been emptied of their people. As an indigenous com- munity, they have attracted attention from a successful and ambitious NGO. This external agency has worked with them to discover and promote their local knowledge. The Namib- ian government has eventually allowed them certain rights to wildlife within a national SDUN 7KH FHQWUDO DUJXPHQW RI WKH ERRN LV WKDW VLJQLķFDQW QXPEHUV RI WKLV PDUJLQDO FRP- munity have been able to take advantage of this opportunity. They are able to work with the NGO to generate income. And they have responded by asserting their identity more strongly, both in national terms and in relation to the minority Bantu-speaking African population in the area, the Mbukushu. They have also formed new institutions, including

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The doctoral thesis was submitted in 2007 to the University of Oxford with the title “Naming the Land. Identity, Authority and Environment in Namibia’s West Caprivi”.

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