Beware the Elephant in the Bush: Myths, memory and indigenous traditional knowledge in north-eastern Namibia

Cultural Geographies

Volumn 16, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 329-349

  Moore, Lorraine ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Elephants; Indigenous traditional knowledge; Memory; Namibia; Political ecology

Indexed keywords

COGNITION; ELEPHANT; INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE; INDIGENOUS POPULATION; MEMORY; SOCIAL CHANGE; TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE;

AFRICA; CAPRIVI; NAMIBIA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA;

ELEPHANTIDAE;

EID: 68849084104     PISSN: 14744740     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1474474009105051     Document Type: Article

References (89)

1. This article was originally presented at the RGS Annual International Conference on Sustainability and Quality of Life, 29-31 August 2007. The research draws on fieldwork undertaken during a three year doctoral degree in the Department of Politics & IR, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YD, funded by a Lancaster University 40th Anniversary Doctoral Studentship.
2. M. Sutton and E. Anderson, Introduction to cultural ecology (Oxford, Berg, 2004), p. 96.
3. R. Neumann, Primitive ideas: protected area buffer zones and the politics of land in Africa, Development and change 28 (2001), pp. 559-82.
4. Ibid. See also V. Shiva, Biopiracy: the plunder of nature and knowledge (Boston, Southend Press, 1997).
5. V. Nazarea, Cultural memory and biodiversity (Tucson, AZ, The University of Arizona Press, 2005).
6. G. Dei, Indigenous African knowledge systems: local traditions of sustainable forestry, Singapore journal of tropical geography 4(1) (1993), pp. 28-41.
7. Nazarea, Cultural memory.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., p. 73; see also Sutton and Anderson, Cultural ecology.
10. see M. Biesele, How hunter-gatherers stories make sense: semantics and adaptation, Cultural anthropology 1(2) (1986), pp. 157-70.
11. N. Johnson, Public memory, in J.S. Duncan, N.C. Johnson and R.H. Schein, eds, A companion to cultural geography (Oxford, Blackwell, 2004), pp. 316-28.
12. See H. Scott, Cultural turns, in Duncan et al., A companion to cultural geography, pp. 24-37.
13. P. Lindeque, Renewed efforts to lift the ban, Conservation and the environment in Namibia (Windhoek, Venture publications and Ministry of Environment and Tourism, 2002), p. 34.
14. Johnson, Public memory.
15. C. Katz, Sow what you know: the struggle for social reproduction in rural Sudan, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 81(3) (1991), pp. 488-514.
16. R. Panelli and G. Robertson, Catchment contrasts: comparing young people's experiences and knowledge of a river environment, Geofroum 37 (2006), pp.455-72.
17. IRDNC and CI, Phase one: transboundary natural resource management planning, Kasika Conservancy, Eastern Caprivi, Working Report (IRDNC, Katima Mulilo, Namibia, November 2003).
18. At the time of fieldwork, West Caprivi was in the process of being reproclaimed Bwabwata National Park. An interviewee (R50 - an expert in CBNRM) explained that as far as he was aware, the land for the park had not been surveyed and that the park had only been renamed Bwabwata internally. As such, this article retains the name of West Caprivi.
19. B. Weidlich, Helping the Khwe to keep their voice, The Namibian 23 May 2006.
20. Güldemann (n.d.) provides one of the few explanations to explain these differences. Khoe refers to central Khoisan lineage of which the Kxoe belong. In West Caprivi, the Kxoe speak a Khwe (or Khwedam) dialect. T. Güldemann, Changing profile when encroaching on hunter-gatherer territory? Towards a history of the Khoe-Kwadi family in Southern Africa (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and University of Leipzig, n.d.).
21. C. Kilian-Hatz, Folktales of the Kxoe in West Caprivi (Kölen, Rüdiger Köppe Verläg, 1999).
22. Killian-Hatz, Folktales.
23. R. Vigne, A dwelling place of our own: the story of the Namibian nation (London, International Defence Aid Fund, 1973).
24. P. Stiff, The covert war: Koevoet operations Namibia 1979-1989 (Alberton, Galago, 2004).
25. W.R. Stanley, Namibia's unstable northern frontier, Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie 93(4) (2002), pp.369-82.
26. The militarization of Caprivi had very different implications for the Mafwe and Subyia ethnic groups because they did not align with the SADF as the Khwe did.
27. C.J. Brown, and B.T.B. Jones, eds, Results of a socio-ecological survey of the West Caprivi Strip, Namibia: a strategic community based environment and development plan (DEA, MET, Windhoek, Namibia, 1994), p. 3.
28. Author interview with R22, Windhoek, 27.03.06; and R50, CBNRM Advisor, Windhoek, 18.05.06
29. Ibid. See also Brown and Jones Socio-ecological survey.
30. P. Lindeque, Renewed efforts.
31. MET, Species management plan: elephants (Loxodonta africana), Draft (Windhoek, Namibia, 2005).
32. See MET, Species management plan for statistics demonstrating the growth in Namibia's elephant population.
33. This is a theme discussed by many interviewees in both the communal areas of West Caprivi and with government representatives and NGOs. Key interviewees included: R25.2 - national NGO, 23.03.06; R27 - national NGO, 08.03.06; R112 - Kwando, 01.05.06; and R30 - farmer from West Caprivi, 18.03.06. See also S. Ellis, Of elephants and men: politics and nature conservation in South Africa, Journal of southern African studies 20(1) (1994), pp. 53-69.
34. All interviewees asked claimed that the elephant population had drastically increased over the past decade.
35. Author interviews with R25, conservation NGO, 23.03.06; R10, MET, Caprivi Region, 10.03.06; R27, Conservation NGO, On-going between 27.02.06-17.03.06. However, it should be pointed out that is illegal to hunt elephants in Namibia without permission from the MET. In addition to this, the actual incidence of illegal killing in Namibia is very low.
36. J.I. Barnes, J. Macgregor and C. Weaver, Economic efficiency and incentives for change within Namibia's community wildlife use initiatives, World development 20(4) (2002), pp. 667-81
37. C. Ashley, Tourism, communities and national policy: Namibia's experience, Development policy review, 16 (1998), pp. 323-5.
38. MET, Species management plan.
39. For further details, see A. Schoeman, Conservation in Namibia: laying the foundation, in P. Tarr, ed., Namibia environment (Vol. 1) (DEA Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Windhoek, Namibia, 1997),pp. 6-13.
40. For more information of CBNRM in Namibia see Barnes et al., Economic efficiency; B.T.B. Jones, The evolution of a community-based approach to wildlife management in Kunene, Namibia, in D. Hulme and M. Murphree, eds, African wildlife and livelihoods: the promise and performance of community conservation (Oxford, James Curry, 2001), pp. 160-76.
41. Brown and Jones, Socio-ecological survey of the West Caprivi Strip.
42. Author interview with R54, National Museum if Namibia, 03.04.06.
43. The Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.
44. Author interview with R21 and R22, both employees of a humanitarian NGO, Windhoek, 27.03.06.
45. Killian-Hatz, Folktales, p. 5.
46. Ibid.
47. Biesele, Semantics and adaptation, p.167.
48. Interview with R95, Mashambo, 17.03.06.
49. Author interview with R98, Chetto, 24.04.06.
50. Author interview with R99, Chetto, 24.04.06.
51. Author interview with R100, Chetto, 24.04.06.
52. Author interview with R115, Kwando, 01.05.06.
53. Biesele, Semantics and adaptation.
54. Author interview with R99, Chetto, 24.04.06.
55. Author interview with R97, Chetto, 24.04.06.
56. Killian-Hatz, Folktales, p. 9.
57. Author interview with R103, Omega III, 25.04.06.
58. Author interview with R95, Mashambo, 17.03.06.
59. Neumann, Primitive ideas'
60. W.M. Adams, Green development: environment and development in the Third World (London, Routledge, 2001);
61. D. Brockington, Fortress conservation: the preservation of the Mkomazi Game Reserve, Tanzania (The International African Institute, Oxford, James Curry, 2002).
62. W.M. Adams, Nature and the colonial mind, in W.M. Adams and M. Mulligan, eds, Decolonising nature: strategies for conservation in a post-colonial era (London, Earthscan, 2003), p. 17.
63. M. Leach and R. Mearns, eds, The lie of the land: challenging received wisdom on the African environment (Oxford, James Curry, 1996).
64. T. Forsyth, Critical political ecology (London, Routledge, 2002).
65. Sutton and Anderson, Cultural ecology, p. 96.
66. S. Price and E. Kearns, eds, Oxford dictionary of classical myth and religion (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 363.
67. Forsyth, Political ecology; G.P. Chapman and T. Driver, «Time, mankind, and the earth, in T. Driver and G.P. Chapman, eds, Time-scales and environmental change (London, Routledge,1996).
68. Forsyth, Critical, p. 47.
69. Capman, and Driver, Time, p. 6.
70. Dei, Indigenous African knowledge.
71. Author interview with R30, farmer, West Caprivi, 18.03.06. This is not to suggest that Caprivi's adult population have no opinion of elephants - they certainly do. Interviews conducted in all study areas of Caprivi revealed that people have a complex combination of emotions regarding elephants which include: anger, fear and awe. However, such an analysis is beyond the scope of this article. People's perceptions of elephants in Caprivi is the subject of a forthcoming article.
72. Author interview with R103 Omega III, 25.04.06
73. Author interview with R22, 27.03.06.
74. Author interview with R50, 18.05.06; R27, on-going between 24.03.06 and 04.04.06; R22, 27.03.06.
75. Author interview with R17, Conservation NGO, Windhoek, 29.03.06.
76. Author interview with R54, 03.04.06.
77. Sutton and Anderson, Cultural ecology.
78. Biesele, Semantics and adaptation.
79. Johnson, Public memory, p. 316.
80. Ibid.
81. Ibid., p. 322-3.
82. Author interview with R30, 18.03.06.
83. Author discussion with a 13-year-old girl from Kwando.
84. Author discussion with 9-year0old girl, Kwando conservancy.
85. Panelli and Robertson, Catchment p. 455.
86. Ibid., p. 462.
87. Ibid., p. 470.
88. Katz, Sow what you know, p. 488.
89. Johnson, Public memory'