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Shaping the African Savannah

From Capitalist Frontier to Arid Eden in Namibia

Michael Bollig

$43.95

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English
Cambridge University Press
16 June 2022
Series: African Studies
The southern African savannah landscape has been framed as an 'Arid Eden' in recent literature, as one of Africa's most sought after exotic tourism destinations by twenty-first century travellers, as a 'last frontier' by early twentieth-century travellers

and as an ancient ancestral land by Namibia's Herero communities. In this 150-year history of the region, Michael Bollig looks at how this 'Arid Eden' came into being, how this 'last frontier' was construed, and how local pastoralists relate to the landscape. Putting the intricate and changing relations between humans, arid savannah grasslands and its co-evolving animal inhabitants at the centre of his analysis, this history of material relations, of power struggles between commercial hunters and wildlife, between wealthy cattle patrons and foraging clients, between established homesteads and recent migrants, conservationists and pastoralists. Finally, Bollig highlights how futures are being aspired to and planned for between the increasing challenges of climate change, global demands for cheap ores and quests for biodiversity conservation.

By:  
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Height: 225mm,  Width: 151mm,  Spine: 24mm
Weight:   620g
ISBN:   9781108726399
ISBN 10:   1108726399
Series:   African Studies
Pages:   425
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Michael Bollig is Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Cologne where his key interests lie in the environmental anthropology of sub-Saharan Africa. His current research projects focus on the social-ecological dynamics connected to large-scale conservation projects, the commodification of nature and the political ecology of pastoralism. He is the author of Risk Management in a Hazardous Environment (2006), co-author of African Landscapes (2009) with O. Bubenzer, Pastoralism in Africa (2013) with M. Schnegg and H.P. Wotzka, and Resilience and Collapse in African Savannahs (2017) with D. Anderson.

Reviews for Shaping the African Savannah: From Capitalist Frontier to Arid Eden in Namibia

'At last the hauntingly beautiful arid landscape of northern Namibia has the historical analysis that it merits. Bollig, an anthropologist with long experience of the region, brings to life the long-term interaction of humanity, wildlife and the environment in a rich narrative that speaks to our age of global change.' Jane Carruthers, University of South Africa 'Michael Bollig is one of the world's most distinguished experts on the environmental 'entanglements' of African societies. Adopting a 'new materialist' approach to understanding human, livestock and wildlife impacts on the African Savannah in Namibia, Bollig examines how its environmental infrastructure reflects a historical dialectic of pastoralism, foraging, and hunting from colonialism to capitalism. This monumental work explores three possible futures for African drylands - conservation, mining or indigenous autonomy - which will determine whether Savannah environments can sustain Africa's indigenous peoples and their remarkable reservoir of biodiversity.' John Galaty, McGill University 'Erudite and compelling ... Who else but Michael Bollig can weave together archival materials, satellite data and cultural analysis in a comprehensive work that appeals to historians, anthropologists, economists, ecologists and basically everyone interested in the interplay of people, policy and an arid environment. This book contains lessons for everyone.' Steven Van Wolputte, University of Leuven 'Shaping the African Savannah is immensely stimulating, and not only for those who love reading everything about Namibia. It is a book that will appeal to the anthropologically-inclined, of course, but also to (environmental) historians, ecologists and geographers alike.' Michael Bollig, Journal of Namibian Studies '... richly detailed ... Recommended.' C. Higgs, Choice 'Shaping the African Savannah succeeds in making the global local and examines the Kaokoveld's environmental past, present, and future with nuance and sophistication. Much of the strength of this work lies in the detail and sensitivity with which Bollig approaches processes at the granular level and yet creates a story of environmental history and globalization that remains accessible to the majority of readers.' Cathy Skidmore-Hess, African Studies Quarterly


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