Conserved Spaces, Ancestral Places : Conservation, History and Identity Among Farm Labourers in the Sundays River Valley, South Africa

Combining a rich ethnography with social and political history, this book examines 300 years of social conflict over land in the frontier-like Sundays River Valley, the scene of multiple displacements and the location of the extended Addo Elephant National Park. It tells how the historical relationships among farm workers, owners and conservationists have produced a dynamic, uniquely hybrid zone.

Combining a rich ethnography with social and political history, this book examines 300 years of social conflict over land in the frontier-like Sundays River Valley, the scene of multiple displacements and the location of the extended Addo Elephant National Park.

Conserved Spaces, Ancestral Places tells how the historical relationships among farm workers, owners and conservationists have produced a dynamic, uniquely hybrid zone. It argues that close ties exist between farming and wildlife conservation and shows how local inhabitants challenge boundaries created by the narrative of wildlife ecology. It asks: Have residents around the new conservation zones in South Africa really benefitted from models of co-management?

The subtle and deep reading of the agrarian and environmental history of the Sundays River Valley presented here carries important implications for policy and practice related to conservation of protected areas in South Africa and relates it to international thought.

This book will appeal to readers interested in environmental and agrarian history, political ecology, displacement and space, place and identity.