- Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Harry Wels
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty Member
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Research Interests: Sociology and Expatriate
Saving the world's flora and fauna, especially high-profile examples such as chimpanzees, whales and the tropical rain forests, is big business. Individuals and companies channel their resources to the preservation of nature through... more
Saving the world's flora and fauna, especially high-profile examples such as chimpanzees, whales and the tropical rain forests, is big business. Individuals and companies channel their resources to the preservation of nature through various ways, one of which is the funding of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs). This book is the first to comprehensively address this issue and focus on a dominant theme in environmental philanthropy, the links between ENGOs and CBOs and their sponsors, especially the private sector. It has been argued that donor support is based on recipient's perceived expertise and needs, with no favouritism of flagship environmental organizations as recipients of donor funds. A counterview holds that the private sector prefers to fund mainstream ENGOs for environmental research and policy reforms congenial to industrial capital. The authors show that the debate about these arguments, together with the empirical evidence on which they are based, may shed light on certain aspects of the nature of environmental philanthropy. The book evaluates practical examples of environmental philanthropy from Africa and elsewhere against philosophical questions about the material and geographical expressions of philanthropy, and the North-South connections among philanthropists and ENGOs and CBOs.
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... In the economics-driven field of organization and management, these latter considerations in particular have given rise to a lot of publications on and an increased popularity of the concept of 'management of diversity... more
... In the economics-driven field of organization and management, these latter considerations in particular have given rise to a lot of publications on and an increased popularity of the concept of 'management of diversity (Thomas and Elly, 1996; Chemers, Oskamp and Costanzo ...
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Research Interests: Sociology and Ethnography
Research Interests: Business and Agriculture
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... Title About romance and reality - popular European imagery in postcolonial tourism in southern Africa. Authors Wels, H. Editors Hall, CM;Tucker, H. Book Tourism andpostcolonialism: contested discourses, identities and representations... more
... Title About romance and reality - popular European imagery in postcolonial tourism in southern Africa. Authors Wels, H. Editors Hall, CM;Tucker, H. Book Tourism andpostcolonialism: contested discourses, identities and representations 2004 pp. ...
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Introduction: Charles is a landowner in an area of KwaZulu-Natal province known locally as the Midlands. Over the past decades he has built up a profitable business as a cattle breeder. Now however, there is pressure for him to... more
Introduction: Charles is a landowner in an area of KwaZulu-Natal province known locally as the Midlands. Over the past decades he has built up a profitable business as a cattle breeder. Now however, there is pressure for him to participate in a land-use change fuelled by the tourism industry: the conversion of some sixteen privately owned farms in the area into an upmarket wildlife-based lifestyle development called the Gongolo Wildlife Reserve (GWR). Charles's farm is located inside the area that would constitute the proposed GWR, so he finds himself in a difficult position as the only 'hold-out' against the move to a tourism-oriented wildlife-based future. Charles has reluctantly agreed to participate in the venture, but worries about the future of the people who currently live and work on his land. Resulting from a complex agrarian history in which African families have lived, worked and kept cattle on white-owned farms in the region for generations, Charles has a tot...
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This chapter discusses the possibilities for communities in and close to the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park to benefit from tourism development.
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Research Interests: Art and Zuid-Afrika
Past and present white, mostly European-descended, employees of national parks in Africa, game wardens and management alike, usually do not hold back in their praise for the ‘colonial aesthetic’ (Gikandi 1996: 167) of the landscape... more
Past and present white, mostly European-descended, employees of national parks in Africa, game wardens and management alike, usually do not hold back in their praise for the ‘colonial aesthetic’ (Gikandi 1996: 167) of the landscape (including wildlife) they are working in (see, for some examples, Pitman 1942; Davison 1967; Kinloch 1972; Hey 1995). This also holds true for the string of employees of European descent working in the Sabi and Singwetsi Game Reserves that were amalgamated in 1926 into the Kruger National Park (knp) in South Africa. Songs of praise and narratives in a memoirs format of game rangers and managers are widely found, starting in South Africa with the famous book of the first warden of knp, James Stevenson-Hamilton (1993 [1937]). His book’s title, a ‘South African Eden’ (italics added), already refers to an ‘iconography of landscape’ (Cosgrove & Daniels 1988). The first sentences of the opening chapter start with the following landscape description:
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Although the discipline of anthropology and its associated ethnographic method is now long established, organizational ethnography is a relatively new field of methodological inquiry. As such, there are comparatively few texts dealing... more
Although the discipline of anthropology and its associated ethnographic method is now long established, organizational ethnography is a relatively new field of methodological inquiry. As such, there are comparatively few texts dealing explicitly with the subject matter. This book is therefore especially welcome. Organizational Ethnography: Studying the Complexities of Everyday Life is an edited collection which brings together fairly sophisticated methodological deliberation. The volume follows a conventional structure. The contributions themselves are divided into one of three sections: ‘Ethnographic Doing and Writing’; ‘Familiarity and ‘Stranger-ness’’; and ‘Researcher–Researched Relationships’. The text also includes a reason-ably comprehensive glossary of organizational ethnographic studies which goes beyond a con-ventional reference list and includes many studies not actually cited in the book. This glossary is a valuable resource in itself. Students and scholars new to the fie...
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An excellent collection of diverse and deeply reflective perspectives. All offer insights into the multiple challenges confronted in improving the quality and depth of postgraduate supervision, increasing throughput, and dealing with... more
An excellent collection of diverse and deeply reflective perspectives. All offer insights into the multiple challenges confronted in improving the quality and depth of postgraduate supervision, increasing throughput, and dealing with complexity. What is also affirmed is the importance of individual capability in supervision that is developed and nurtured over time, and through arduous effort. The book will be of value to novice supervisors and to more experienced ones. Policy makers, planners and administrators looking to enlarge their understanding of the postgraduate terrain in all its complexities will find the mix of theoretical and practical lenses through which the topic is approached particularly illuminating. — Professor Narend Baijnath, Chief Executive Officer, Council on Higher Education
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This article provides a brief history of the use of maps and fences in wildlife conservation. Analysis of the promotional materials of one of the main promoters of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in southern Africa, the Peace... more
This article provides a brief history of the use of maps and fences in wildlife conservation. Analysis of the promotional materials of one of the main promoters of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in southern Africa, the Peace Parks Foundation, reveals the importance of mapping as a planning and promotion tool. These maps, however, appear to be quite silent about the communities that are supposed to benefit from the TFCAs. The fences around wildlife areas are resented by local communities because they prevent them from harvesting natural resources “on the other side.” Local communities also object to the fences because of their symbolic meaning and instrumentality, shown in warfare and policies “to control and divide.” Conservation organizations nowadays use the symbol of the fence to communicate their change in policy toward local communities: stressing the need to move “beyond the fences” by involving local communities in the management of protected areas and using these t...
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... On the one hand the African was considered an authentic 'noble savage', on the other hand the African was considered a violent and promiscuous ... In the classic movie 'Out of Africa', Karin Blixen, played by Meryl... more
... On the one hand the African was considered an authentic 'noble savage', on the other hand the African was considered a violent and promiscuous ... In the classic movie 'Out of Africa', Karin Blixen, played by Meryl Streep, sets out on herself, helped by her servants, to go and find ...
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Het is tijd om na te denken over hoe het na de coronapandemie anders kan. In dit essay doen wij dat door terug te grijpen op elementen uit de levenswijze van een groep jagers en verzamelaars in zuidelijk Afrika, de San, en hoe die... more
Het is tijd om na te denken over hoe het na de coronapandemie anders kan. In dit essay doen wij dat door terug te grijpen op elementen uit de levenswijze van een groep jagers en verzamelaars in zuidelijk Afrika, de San, en hoe die gedurende duizenden jaren in staat is geweest op een zuinige wijze te leven in en met de natuur.
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The wildlife industry in South Africa is thriving, with increasing numbers of game farms. Large parts of the South African countryside are enclosed with fences. Fences have always been strategically important in wildlife production and... more
The wildlife industry in South Africa is thriving, with increasing numbers of game farms. Large parts of the South African countryside are enclosed with fences. Fences have always been strategically important in wildlife production and conservation, both to protect wildlife, but also to keep local people out. The high - often electrified - fences allow game farmers to claim ownership of wildlife. Farm dwellers - farm labourers and (former) tenants who consider the farms as their home - are relocated to recreate the idea of 'pristine wilderness'. These relocations negatively affect their ability to claim land on the farms through the component of the South African land reform programme aimed at securing farm dwellers' security of tenure. Contrary to claims by wildlife industry proponents, employment opportunities on game farms - especially on hunting farms - decrease, also due to the amalgamation of farms to create viable wildlife areas. As a result, large numbers of farm...
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In lion conservation, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and Trade Records Analyses of Flora and Fauna in Commerce... more
In lion conservation, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and Trade Records Analyses of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC) are considered key United Nations (UN) institutions for “science-based decisions” on global policy formulation for conservation and combating wildlife crime. CITES, but probably also TRAFFIC and IUCN, still adheres to and operates in the paradigm of the “sustainable use” of animals, based on the long leading philosophical Cartesian paradigm in academia that premises that humans and animals differ in kind, and that animals do not “feel” and have the neurological capacities to think like us. But this Cartesian worldview can no longer withstand the latest scientific evidence, developments, and new insights that show how people and animals only differ in degree and not in kind. The concept of “sustainable use” of wildlife, including lions, therefore...
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The aim of the study was to explore whether a relationship exists between balance performance and basic soccer skills. To this end, participants (N=263) divided over three age-groups, 11-12 (GR1), 13-14 (GR2), 15-16 (GR3) years of age,... more
The aim of the study was to explore whether a relationship exists between balance performance and basic soccer skills. To this end, participants (N=263) divided over three age-groups, 11-12 (GR1), 13-14 (GR2), 15-16 (GR3) years of age, performed three balance tasks (i.e., walking forward (WF) and walking backward (WB) on a balance beam, and single leg standing balance (SLB)) and three soccer tasks (i.e., kicking on target (Aim), passing (Pass) and dribbling (Dribble)). The age groups showed different task scores. In addition, significant correlations were found between WF and Aim, and WF and Dribble within GR1; between SLB and Dribble in GR2; and between WF and Dribble, WB and Dribble, WB and Aim in GR3. It is concluded that relationships between balance performance and basic soccer skill exists in youth players between 10 and 16 years of age. The prospects of using balance performance as one of the indicators for identifying young soccer talents are discussed.
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To further develop research methodologies for multi-species ethnographic fieldwork, based on researcher's experiences with multi-species fieldwork in private wildlife conservancies in South Africa and inspired by San tracking... more
To further develop research methodologies for multi-species ethnographic fieldwork, based on researcher's experiences with multi-species fieldwork in private wildlife conservancies in South Africa and inspired by San tracking techniques.,Reflections on methodological lessons learnt during multi-species ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa. The approach is rather “Maanenesque” in telling various types of tales of the field. These tales also implicitly show how all-encompassing ethnographic fieldwork and its accompanying reflexivity are; there is never time for leisure in ethnographic fieldwork.,That developing fieldwork methodologies in multi-species ethnographic research confronts researchers with the explicit need for and training in multi-sensory methods and interpretations, inspired by “the art of tracking” of the San.,Comes up with a concrete suggestion for a sequence of research methods for multi-species ethnography based on the trials and tribulations of a multi-species ...
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This paper explores the Dutch concept ‘<em>probeerruimte</em>’ in relation to the statement ‘human as a contested concept’, a highly relevant topic in disability studies. <em>Probeerruimte</em> encompasses the idea... more
This paper explores the Dutch concept ‘<em>probeerruimte</em>’ in relation to the statement ‘human as a contested concept’, a highly relevant topic in disability studies. <em>Probeerruimte</em> encompasses the idea that people need space to ‘try things out’, a liminal space that facilitates personal development. It was conceived in a context where institutional practices exerted restrictive control over the lives of people with learning difficulties, denying them rights to self-determination and personal growth, rights that are integral to experiences of ‘being human’. The concept emerged about 20 years ago, and was revived during two studies conducted in 2014 and 2015. The studies, commissioned by Disability Studies in Nederland (DSiN), explored perceptions of social inclusion. Study findings reveal the significance of associated concepts, inclusive of connectivity, citizenship, liminal spaces, and ‘risk taking’. Of critical importance is the need to challe...
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show the complex positionality and the complexity that comes with the study of whiteness in South African higher education by Dutch, white academics. This complexity stems from the long-standing... more
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show the complex positionality and the complexity that comes with the study of whiteness in South African higher education by Dutch, white academics. This complexity stems from the long-standing relationship between Dutch universities, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA) in particular, with their South African counterparts, which predominantly supported apartheid with reference to a shared religious (Protestant) background. Design/methodology/approach The paper rests upon a literature review of the development of South African higher education, and an assessment of the prominent role played by the Dutch Vrije Universiteit in support of the all-white, Afrikaans Potchefstroom University (presently North-West University). The authors, who are both involved in the institutional cooperation between Vrije Universiteit and South African universities, reflect on the complexity of this relationship by providing auto-ethnographic evidence from their own (religious) biography. Findings The paper reflects the ambiguous historical as well as contemporary contexts and ties that bind Vrije Universiteit to South African universities, especially formerly Afrikaans-speaking ones. The ambiguity is about the comfort of sharing an identity with formerly Afrikaans-speaking universities, on the one hand, and the discomfort of historical and political complicities in a (still) segregated South African society on the other hand. Originality/value This auto-ethnographic paper breathes an atmosphere of a “coming out” that is not very common in academic writing. It is a reflection and testimony of a lifelong immersion in VUA-South African academic research relations in which historical, institutional, and personal contexts intermingle and lead to a unique positionality leading to “breaking silences” around these complex relations.
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This paper explores the Dutch concept 'probeerruimte' 1 in relation to the statement 'human as a contested concept', a highly relevant topic in disability studies. Probeerruimte encompasses the idea that people need space... more
This paper explores the Dutch concept 'probeerruimte' 1 in relation to the statement 'human as a contested concept', a highly relevant topic in disability studies. Probeerruimte encompasses the idea that people need space to 'try things out', a liminal space that facilitates personal development. It was conceived in a context where institutional practices exerted restrictive control over the lives of people with learning difficulties, denying them rights to self-determination and personal growth, rights that are integral to experiences of 'being human'. The concept emerged about 20 years ago, and was revived during two studies conducted in 2014 and 2015. The studies, commissioned by Disability Studies in Nederland (DSiN), explored perceptions of social inclusion. Study findings reveal the significance of associated concepts, inclusive of connectivity, citizenship, liminal spaces, and 'risk taking'. Of critical importance is the need to challen...
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In the white-dominated wildlife-utilization industry in southern Africa, farms sometimes pooled their land together to create large areas for wildlife conservation and wildlife tourism. These were called “private wildlife conservancies,”... more
In the white-dominated wildlife-utilization industry in southern Africa, farms sometimes pooled their land together to create large areas for wildlife conservation and wildlife tourism. These were called “private wildlife conservancies,” or just “conservancies” and developed mainly in South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Electrified fences enclosed many of these conservancies. Officially, these fences were constructed for the purposes of keeping foot and mouth disease away from domesticated cattle, and to prevent wildlife (especially elephants) from creating havoc in the local communities and agricultural fields surrounding the conservancies. The communities usually perceived fences as an outright denial of their access to wildlife, that is, the fences kept people and cattle out of wildlife areas (Duffy 2000, 98-9). The boundary between conservancy organizations and the communities is a formidable fence.
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Page 1. Private Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe Joint Ventures and Reciprocity BEWARE CHEMJERAI BUFFALO ZONE WO ENTRY PERMITTED hUUI MUlHUKIbAIIUiy Harry Wels BRILL Page 2. Page 3. Private Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe This ene... more
Page 1. Private Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe Joint Ventures and Reciprocity BEWARE CHEMJERAI BUFFALO ZONE WO ENTRY PERMITTED hUUI MUlHUKIbAIIUiy Harry Wels BRILL Page 2. Page 3. Private Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe This ene LKUT-9N1-7816 ...
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Purpose – Now that the human-animal distinction is increasingly critiqued from various disciplinary perspectives, to the point where some suggest even letting go of the distinction completely, the purpose of this paper is to argue that... more
Purpose – Now that the human-animal distinction is increasingly critiqued from various disciplinary perspectives, to the point where some suggest even letting go of the distinction completely, the purpose of this paper is to argue that organizational ethnography should start to explore in more detail what this means for organizational ethnographic research, theory and analysis to include non-human animals in it. Design/methodology/approach – Revisiting the author’s earlier organizational ethnographic work in Zimbabwe on a private wildlife conservancy, an organization that was specifically set up for and around wildlife. At the same time these non-human animals were not taken into account methodologically nor featured at all in the empirical material or in the analysis. What could it mean for the analysis and conclusions if non-human animals would have been part of the equation? Findings – Since we live in a world shared between human and non-human animals, this also is true for the ...
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Victor Turner ( 1920-1983) is a household name in anthropology. His work is also widely influential in literature studies, theology, organisation studies and other interpretive disciplines. He studied anthropology at University College,... more
Victor Turner ( 1920-1983) is a household name in anthropology. His work is also widely influential in literature studies, theology, organisation studies and other interpretive disciplines. He studied anthropology at University College, London and, after receiving his BA degree with honours, he continued his studies under South African exile, Max Gluckman, who having spent many years at the Rhodes Livingstone Institute in what was then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) -founded and was the inspired leader of what came to be known in anthropology as the Manchester School at the University of Manchester (Gewald 2007). 1 Following Gluckman's request to produce an ethnography of the Ndembu of the Northwestern Province of Northern Rhodesia, Turner soon found that the extent to which ritual dominated Ndembu people's lives meant that he needed to concentrate his studies on what he came to call their ritual processes, a couplet he then began to apply more widely to ritual activity in a wide range of contexts (Turner 1967; Deflem 1991: I). Amongst his multifold contributions to the development of anthropology as a discipline, Victor Turner became particularly famous for introducing concepts that have more or less become part of the standard lexicon of any anthropologist. Being able to use concepts such as 'social drama', 'anti-structure', 'communitas', but above all 'liminality', in any conversation amongst peers has almost become an initiation protocol in itself. 'Liminality' particularly seems to remain one of Turner's enduring legacies in the anthropological conceptual repertoire. It was, of course, Arnold van Gennep who originally coined the term liminality in French in 1909. Yet it resurfaced and became popular only after 1960 when Van Gennep's work was translated into English (Van Gennep 1960) and Victor Turner ( 1967) adopted and adapted his concepts for an analysis of Ndembu rituals (d. Balduk 2008). 'Liminality' as a sociologically useful concept denotes the middle phase of any ritual process that can be divided, following Van Gennep, into three analytically distinct phases and during which an individual undergoes a transition from one social status to another, for instance, and indeed classically, from being a boy to becoming an adult man, or when a girl becomes a woman (such as during what have come to be known as initiation rituals). During the middle phase of such a process the individuals involved are understood to be 'no longer' and simultaneously also 'not yet'. It is thus an ambiguous phase; liminal personae are "neither here nor there; they are betwixt and between the positions assigned and arrayed by law, custom, convention, and ceremonial" (Turner 1969: 95). While Turner experimented conceptually with the term, he himself was not very strict about precisely how it might be used. For him, a 'liminal phase' could thus refer to almost anything in which there was a normally short lived period of upending of a prior hierarchy and during which power reversals occurred, or at least appeared to have occurred. His imprecision in his use of the term is exactly what authors such as Balduk (2008) dislike about the concept because in a sense it is one where 'anything goes'. Yet, as Balduk (2008) points out, for others it is what makes it an endearing conceptprecisely because of its possibilities for flexible adaptation and application. Anthropology as a discipline has moved on since Victor Turner's passing in 1983, and theoretical and conceptual developments have come and gone. Yet Turner's concept of 'liminality' seems to continue to appeal to the imagination of present day researchers who continue to apply it in a wide array of fields and interests: StJohn (2008) in the field of religion; Yang (2000) for making sense of social movements; Graburn ( 1978) in studies of tourism; Tempest and Starkey (2004) for their understanding of bureaucracies; Beech (20 I I) while analysing identity construction; Mackay Yarnal (2006) in studying ageing; Madge and O'Conner (2005) for an exploration of the sociality of cyberspace; Rumelili (2003) in a
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Just as newspapers do not, typically, engage the ordinary experiences of people&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;s daily lives, organizational studies has also tended largely to ignore the humdrum, everyday experiences of people working in... more
Just as newspapers do not, typically, engage the ordinary experiences of people&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;s daily lives, organizational studies has also tended largely to ignore the humdrum, everyday experiences of people working in organizations. The most central discussions and debates in organizational studies textbooks are often remarkably remote from these commonplaces, as if organizations are not inhabited and embodied by individuals who go to work. There is, as Fineman, Sims and Gabriel (2005: ix) note,&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;a gulf between the lived experience of ...
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The Great Limpopo is one of the largest TransFrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in the world, encompassing vast areas in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. By arguing that local communities living in or close to the TFCA will... more
The Great Limpopo is one of the largest TransFrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in the world, encompassing vast areas in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. By arguing that local communities living in or close to the TFCA will participate in its management and benefit economically, TFCA proponents claim social legitimacy for the project. Analysis shows, however, that the original concept of
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... Whereas Escobar (1995) considers the rise of NGOs in itself as a counterpoint to the dominant neo-liberal discourse, others argue that NGOs ... Safari hunting is the first activity mentioned in the docu-ment for which a joint venture... more
... Whereas Escobar (1995) considers the rise of NGOs in itself as a counterpoint to the dominant neo-liberal discourse, others argue that NGOs ... Safari hunting is the first activity mentioned in the docu-ment for which a joint venture could be considered (Jansen nd: 1). Dzingirai ...
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... Whereas Escobar (1995) considers the rise of NGOs in itself as a counterpoint to the dominant neo-liberal discourse, others argue that NGOs ... Safari hunting is the first activity mentioned in the docu-ment for which a joint venture... more
... Whereas Escobar (1995) considers the rise of NGOs in itself as a counterpoint to the dominant neo-liberal discourse, others argue that NGOs ... Safari hunting is the first activity mentioned in the docu-ment for which a joint venture could be considered (Jansen nd: 1). Dzingirai ...
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The New Regionalism in Africa edited by J. Andrew Grant and Fredrik Söderbaum Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. Pp. 243. £55.00. Regionalism and Uneven Development in Southern Africa: the case of the Maputo Development Corridor edited by Fredrik Söderbaum and Ian Taylor Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. Pp. xii+...more
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... In the economics-driven field of organization and management, these latter considerations in particular have given rise to a lot of publications on and an increased popularity of the concept of &amp;#x27;management of diversity... more
... In the economics-driven field of organization and management, these latter considerations in particular have given rise to a lot of publications on and an increased popularity of the concept of &amp;#x27;management of diversity (Thomas and Elly, 1996; Chemers, Oskamp and Costanzo ...
Organizational Ethnography offers readers a timely text for expanding on the renewal of interest in interpretive ethnographic studies of organizational systems. The authors of this text envision a ...
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This article provides a brief history of the use of maps and fences in wildlife conservation. Analysis of the promotional materials of one of the main promoters of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in southern Africa, the Peace... more
This article provides a brief history of the use of maps and fences in wildlife conservation. Analysis of the promotional materials of one of the main promoters of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in southern Africa, the Peace Parks Foundation, reveals the importance of mapping as a planning and promotion tool. These maps, however, appear to be quite silent about the communities that are supposed to benefit from the TFCAs. The fences around wildlife areas are resented by local communities because they prevent them from harvesting natural resources “on the other side.” Local communities also object to the fences because of their symbolic meaning and instrumentality, shown in warfare and policies “to control and divide.” Conservation organizations nowadays use the symbol of the fence to communicate their change in policy toward local communities: stressing the need to move “beyond the fences” by involving local communities in the management of protected areas and using these t...
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Academia is standing at a junction in time. Behind lies the community of the curious, ahead the mass and the market. This book joins in a growing stream of works that explore the vicissitudes of present-day European universities in what... more
Academia is standing at a junction in time. Behind lies the community of the curious, ahead the mass and the market. This book joins in a growing stream of works that explore the vicissitudes of present-day European universities in what Bauman coined as liquid times. Here, a number of concerned (engaged) European scholars attempt to defend and brush up academic core values and practices, starting from their own life worlds and positions in higher education. They share the view that there is no point in turning back, nor in mechanically marching straight on. Above all, they uphold that there is no alternative to treasuring academia as a space for thinking together. Hopefully the fruit of this sine qua non invites to think with, and envision academic activism. Contributors are Samuel Abraham, Stefano Bianchini, Simon Charlesworth, Leonidas Donskis, Frans Kamsteeg, Joost van Loon, Ida Sabelis, Tamara Shefer and Harry Wels.
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Nick Steele has been key to the large scale development of private wildlife conservation in South and southern Africa in the politically turbulent times of the 1970s and 1980s. This book contextualises this process based on the personal... more
Nick Steele has been key to the large scale development of private wildlife conservation in South and southern Africa in the politically turbulent times of the 1970s and 1980s. This book contextualises this process based on the personal archives of this politically controversial conservationist.
Human-animal relations have always been a part of anthropology. However, the focus has been primarily anthropocentric. Recently, Kirksey and Helmreich (2010) acknowledge a ‘species turn’ in anthropology where non-human animals become... more
Human-animal relations have always been a part of anthropology. However, the focus has been primarily anthropocentric. Recently, Kirksey and Helmreich (2010) acknowledge a ‘species turn’ in anthropology where non-human animals become active participants in multispecies ethnography. These relationships are complex and power relations cannot be denied. A fundamental, yet often overlooked question in this context is how does one acknowledge and study animal agency in relation to human animals? Are we in these attempts not haunted by our anthropocentric past? And what non-human animal are we actually studying? Are we responsive to the needs of the animal or reacting to some romanticized and socially constructed creature embedded in the ‘natural world’? As the world becomes more urbanized, interactions with other species are likely to occur in socially constructed arenas that benefit the most powerful. Arena’s in which humans seem to claim and exercise ‘top dog’ positions. How do we assess in this context what is best for the animal? Human-animal configurations exist in political, economic and cultural landscapes. If we are to give non-human animals a place and voice in that landscape, we must find ways to study them in relation to their human-counterparts. Maybe, we must even put them first.
Participant-observation, a hallmark of anthropological inquiry, may be a starting point for understanding what Lestel et al.(2006) refers to as ‘etho-ethnology’, that ‘grants all living beings the status of relational beings, that is, agents interacting on the phenomenon of “culture” that was hitherto reserved for human beings’(168). Cultural landscapes permeate the ways researchers look and interpret their research and at the same time the human and non-human animal (interactions) researched (De Waal 2001). In this paper, we want to sketch the recent “animal turn” in anthropology, its advances along with ever-present theoretical and methodological challenges and present recent approaches that attempt to capture an understanding from the non-human animal’s perspective in an ever-changing political context that recognizes shared citizenship (Donaldson and Kymlicka, 2011).
De Waal, F. The ape and the sushi master. Cultural reflections of a primatologist, New York: Basic Books
Donaldson, S. and Kymlicka, W. (2011). Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kirksey, S.E. and Helmreich, S. (2010) The emergence of multi-species ethnography, Cultural Anthropology, Special Issue: Multispecies Ethnography, 25(4), 545-576
Lestel, D, Brunois, F. and Gaunet, F. (2006) Etho-ethnology and ethno-ethology, Social Science Information, 45(2), pp. 155-176
Participant-observation, a hallmark of anthropological inquiry, may be a starting point for understanding what Lestel et al.(2006) refers to as ‘etho-ethnology’, that ‘grants all living beings the status of relational beings, that is, agents interacting on the phenomenon of “culture” that was hitherto reserved for human beings’(168). Cultural landscapes permeate the ways researchers look and interpret their research and at the same time the human and non-human animal (interactions) researched (De Waal 2001). In this paper, we want to sketch the recent “animal turn” in anthropology, its advances along with ever-present theoretical and methodological challenges and present recent approaches that attempt to capture an understanding from the non-human animal’s perspective in an ever-changing political context that recognizes shared citizenship (Donaldson and Kymlicka, 2011).
De Waal, F. The ape and the sushi master. Cultural reflections of a primatologist, New York: Basic Books
Donaldson, S. and Kymlicka, W. (2011). Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kirksey, S.E. and Helmreich, S. (2010) The emergence of multi-species ethnography, Cultural Anthropology, Special Issue: Multispecies Ethnography, 25(4), 545-576
Lestel, D, Brunois, F. and Gaunet, F. (2006) Etho-ethnology and ethno-ethology, Social Science Information, 45(2), pp. 155-176
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Abstract: The Great Limpopo is one of the largest Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in the world, encompassing vast areas in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. The TFCA concept is embraced by practically all (international)... more
Abstract: The Great Limpopo is one of the largest Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in the world, encompassing vast areas in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. The TFCA concept is embraced by practically all (international) conservation agencies. The ...
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... One felt that this was the best deal that the Makuleke were likely to get; another advised the Makuleke not to sign the agree ... In 2005, a SANParks&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27; official was quoted by journalists Yolandi Groenewald... more
... One felt that this was the best deal that the Makuleke were likely to get; another advised the Makuleke not to sign the agree ... In 2005, a SANParks&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27; official was quoted by journalists Yolandi Groenewald and Fiona Macleod (2005) in the Mail &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; Guardian saying that &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;national parks ...