Ethnicity and the boundaries of belonging: reconfiguring Shangaan identity in the South African lowveld
About: This article is published in African Affairs.The article was published on 2002-10-01. It has received 31 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Identity (social science).
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the pitfalls and potentials in particular heritage settings for both archaeologists and the constituency we seek to represent, and make a distinction between invoking universal human rights, as opposed to other rights or claims more broadly.
Abstract: This paper discusses the efficacy of applying a framework of universal human rights to resolve heritage conflicts. It considers the pitfalls and potentials in particular heritage settings for both archaeologists and the constituencies we seek to represent. A distinction is made throughout the paper between invoking universal human rights, as opposed to other rights or claims more broadly. Specifically, I ask what does the mantle of universal human rights bring to heritage? What additional work might it perform, and who wins and loses when archaeologists elevate cultural heritage to this arena of urgency? If archaeologists want to pursue this route, what steps might they take to be conversant with human rights and, more importantly, effective in practically implementing that knowledge? I then describe the situation in post-apartheid South Africa-a nation that has arguably crafted the world's most liberal constitution, yet in reality faces numerous challenges to instrumentalizing human rights. In terms of South African heritage rights, the archaeological site of Thulamela is offered as an example of conflict resolution at the local level by briefly examining the role of archaeologists and several connected communities each vying for access and ownership of the site. Following Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum I suggest that heritage practitioners might be more effective and ethically responsible by being attendant to pragmatic approaches that enhance human capabilities and human flourishing. [Keywords: Heritage ethics, human rights, heritage rights, claims, South African Archaeology, politics, fieldwork] Forty years ago, UNESCO held a conference entitled Cultural Rights as Human Rights (UNESCO 1970) to reflect on the evolution of the concept of cultural rights in the twenty years since the proclamation in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Luminaries including Ernest Gellner, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and Breyten Breytenbach debated a now familiar set of subjects: the place of culture and tradition, group rights versus individual rights, the role of the state, and so on. Among the primary concerns were peace, the eradication of poverty, global development, the hegemony of the nation state, international intervention, freedom of media and artistic life, and education in science and technology. Looking back over this remarkably forward-thinking document is both inspiring and sobering. Ostensibly they were having the same conversation in 1968 as many of us are engaged in now. The critical failures they addressed then, understandably, have not been resolved. But what has changed is the astounding upsurge in " rights talk" and the desire to harness the urgency of human rights discourse in so many aspects of human, animal and planetary existence. International human rights have become today's lingua franca, speaking to issues of inequality, injustice, and politics in their broadest terms (Stacy 2009). The discourse of human rights is everywhere, a pervasive and thick stratum that overlays our understandings of nationalisms and internationalisms, indigenous movements, historic repressions, and global inequities. Archaeology is no different, and one recent volume suggests that heritage and human rights are inextricably linked (Silverman and Fairchild Ruggles 2008a). However, a danger exists, in that the call for "human rights" has been so extensive as to dilute the very power and specificity of those fundamental rights as opposed to other types of claims. Before archaeologists assume that instigating human rights petitions over cultural heritage offers a pragmatic way forward to resolve heritage conflicts, it is certainly worth pausing to consider the potentials and limitations of such an approach. This discussion then revolves around two related issues. First, I consider whether heritage conflicts represent an impingement upon human rights specifically; and second, whether an appeal to an international legislative framework offers the most pragmatic way forward for affected communities. …
70 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2007TL;DR: MacGonagle's study of ethnic identities among the marginalized Ndau sheds light on the conflicts and divisions that haunt southeast Africa today as discussed by the authors and has relevance for readers interested in identity formation and ethnic conflict around the world.
Abstract: With this first comprehensive history of the Ndau of eastern Zimbabwe and central Mozambique, Elizabeth MacGonagle moves beyond national borders to show how cultural identities are woven from historical memories that predate the arrival of missionaries and colonial officials on the African continent. Drawing on archival records and oral histories from throughout the Ndau region, her study analyzes the complex relationships between social identity and political power from 1500 to 1900. Ndauness has been created and recreated within communities through marriages and social structures, cultural practices that mark the body, and rituals that help to sustain shared beliefs. A sense of being Ndau continues to exist into the present, despite different colonial histories, postcolonial trajectories, and official languages in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. MacGonagle's study of ethnic identities among the marginalized Ndau sheds light on the conflicts and divisions that haunt southeast Africa today. This compelling interpretation of the crafting of identity in one corner of Africa has relevance for readers interested in identity formation and ethnic conflict around the world. Elizabeth MacGonagle is assistant professor of African History at the University of Kansas.
56 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an alternative systemic context-based framework for planning, research, and decision making is proposed, which allows researchers and policy makers to reframe catchments as being recognizable as complex socialecological systems, and by doing so, the possibility is opened to understand resilience in the face of rapid transformation and crisis.
Abstract: We aimed to contribute to the field of natural resource management (NRM) by introducing an alternative systemic context-based framework for planning, research, and decision making, which we expressed practically in the development of a decisionmaking “tool” or method. This holistic framework was developed in the process of studying a specific catchment area, i.e., the Sand River Catchment, but we have proposed that it can be generalized to studying the complexities of other catchment areas. Using the lens of systemic resilience to think about dynamic and complex environments differently, we have reflected on the development of a systemic framework for understanding water and livelihood security under transformation in postapartheid South Africa. The unique aspect of this framework is that allows researchers and policy makers to reframe catchments as being recognizable as complex socialecological systems, and by doing so, the possibility is opened to understand resiliency in the face of rapid transformation and crisis. Ultimately, this holistic approach can be used to understand the translation of policy into practice. We have emphasized our reflections on the development and use of the framework and the challenges and successes faced by collaborators in the process of adopting such an orientation. Because these are likely to characterize policy and decision-making processes in NRM in general, we have suggested that such a systemic framing can assist researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to adopt systems and resilience analyses in the process of planning and implementation.
24 citations
Cites background from "Ethnicity and the boundaries of bel..."
...With the migration of adult males to the mines in the 1970s and 1980s, the extended patriarchal family, and even the nuclear family unit, appears to have been replaced by a more dispersed sibling social network (Niehaus 2002; I. Niehaus, personal communication)....
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Dissertation•
15 Aug 2012
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a list of FIGURES, maps, and pictures from the collection of the XVII CHAPTER 1, chapter 2 of the book "I KnowLEDGEMENTS".
Abstract: .................................................................................................................................... I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... III ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................ VI MAPS ......................................................................................................................................... VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... XIV LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... XVII LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. XVII LIST OF PICTURES ............................................................................................................... XVII CHAPTER ONE ..............................................................................................................................
23 citations
Cites background from "Ethnicity and the boundaries of bel..."
...Educational and health services were most affected, as hospitals and schools refused to provide services based on ethnic identity and residence (Niehaus 2002b)....
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...Finally, my parents Alf and Jenny have always encouraged my academic v endeavours and expressed their interest in my work, although as Alf told me on more than one occasion: ‘a good thesis is a finished thesis’. vi Acronyms AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ANC: African National Congress ARV: Antiretroviral DoH: Department of Health (South Africa) ELM: Ethel Lucas Memorial Hospitals HAART: Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus HSDU: Health Systems Development Unit IPHC: International Pentecostal Holiness Church MRC: Medical Research Council (South Africa) NGO: Non-Governmental Organisation NRCC: Nazarene Revival Crusade Church OPD: Out Patients Department PEPFAR: Presidential Emergency Funds for AIDS Relief PHRU: Perinatal HIV Research Unit RHRU: Reproductive Health and HIV Research Unit PMTCT: Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission SANT: South African Native Trust STD/I: Sexually Transmitted Disease/Infection TAC: Treatment Action Campaign TB: Tuberculosis TGME: Transvaal Gold Mining Estates USAID: United States Agency for International Development VCT: Voluntary Counselling and Testing vii WHO: World Health Organisation WRF: Wits Rural Facility ZCC: Zion Christian Church viii MAPS Map 1: South Africa's Limpopo Province, showing Bushbuckridge Bushbuckridge ix Map 2: HIV Prevalence Map of South Africa (Department of Health 2006) x Map 3: Places referred to in the text xi Map 4: The villages and towns of Bushbuckridge xii Map 5: Street level map of the study site xiii Map 6: Satellite image of study site (Source: Google Earth) xiv Table of Contents ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................
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...Political activism did not fade after the 1994 elections; in 1997 residents of Bushbuckridge led violent protests against their incorporation into the Limpopo Province (Niehaus 2002b; Ramutsindela & Simon 1999) ....
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Dissertation•
01 May 2010
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess the history of resident mobility in the Limpopo National Park (LNP), how residents established access to and control of resources both within this region and when they moved.
Abstract: The Makandezulu region of Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park is Maluleke territory. That is, the population of Makandezulu, which is dominated by the Maluleke xibongo or clan name has control over environmental resources here and, more importantly, people's relationships with respect to them. With the establishment of Mozambique's Limpopo National Park in 2001, however, the Makandezulu region has also become national and transfrontier conservation territory. Following park implementation and having concluded that resident aspirations for the park were not compatible with conservation goals, conservation managers with support from international donors are developing an extensive resettlement program for people residing along the Shingwedzi Watershed including the Makandezulu region. Focusing on the LNP villages of Makandezulu A and Makandezulu B, this dissertation assesses the history of resident mobility in the LNP, how residents established access to and control of resources both within this region and when they moved, and the relevance of this relationship between access and mobility in the context of conservation related resettlement. My research findings illustrate significant changes in Maluleke territory over the last two centuries resulting from the relationships between access, control, displacement, and mobility. The political ecology of access and mobility in Makandezulu is grounded in three broad arguments. First, for Makandezulu residents, mobility was a means to avoiding the displacement context of external or non-Maluleke groups. Second, both within the Makandezulu region and when residents moved, residents established access to resources through a variety of mechanisms; however, there was an important difference between establishing access and control. Third, the establishment or loss of group level resource control was synonymous with establishment or loss of territory. INDEX WORDS: Political Ecology of Access and Mobility, Displacement, Resource Access and Control, Territory, Conservation-related resettlement, Mozambique, Limpopo National Park, Southern Africa, Maluleke history, Anthropology TAKING THEIR TERRITORY WITH THEM WHEN THEY GO: MOBILITY AND ACCESS IN MOZAMBIQUE'S LIMPOPO NATIONAL PARK
20 citations
Cites background from "Ethnicity and the boundaries of bel..."
...On the contrary, people defined themselves as Shangaan to “facilitate their incorporation into the social landscape” (Niehaus 2002: 559), a landscape that, at the turn of the century, was witness to the fall of an African empire and the rise of a colonial regime. states, regardless of the limited…...
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...As a result, Gaza society was characterized by cultural assimilation, and it was neither uncommon nor contradictory for individuals to pay allegiance to more than one chief (Harries 1994; Niehaus 2002)....
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