South Africa's environmental history : cases & comparisons / edited by Stephen Dovers, Ruth Edgecombe and Bill Guest.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dovers, Stephen.

Edgecombe, Ruth.

Guest, Bill.

Series:

Ohio University Press series in ecology and history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human ecology--South Africa--History.

Human ecology.

Land use--South Africa--History.

Land use.

Nature--Effect of human beings on--South Africa.

Nature.

Environmental policy--South Africa.

Environmental policy.

Nature--Effect of human beings on.

History.

South Africa.

Physical Description:

ix, 326 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Press ; Cape Town : David Philip Pub., 2003.

Summary:

This is a pioneering study of the impact of humans on the environment in the history of South Africa and the role that the environment has played in shaping the history of human development in the country. It consists of two parts. The first is a series of local and particular studies, such as the invasion of prickly pear in the Eastern Cape; the impact of windmills and barbed wire on farming practice and the environment in the Karoo; and ecological change in the Lake St Lucia region. The second is a series of regional and continental comparisons that bring out both the similarities and differences in the environmental histories of South Africa, on the one hand, and South America, South Asia, Australia and the rest of Africa, on the other.

Contents:

1. Environmental history in southern Africa: An overview / Jane Carruthers 3

Part II Essays in South African environmental history

2. The colonial ecological revolution in South Africa: The case of Kuruman / Nancy Jacobs 19

3. White settler impact on the environment of Durban, 1845-1870 / Beverley Ellis 34

4. 'The titihoya does not cry here any more': The crisis in the homestead economy in colonial Natal / John Lambert 48

5. 'I can see my umuzi where I now am ... I had fields over there but now I have none': An ecological context for izimpi zemibango in the Pinetown district in South Africa, 1920-1936 / Jabulani Sithole 61

6. Environmental origins of the Pondoland revolt / William Beinart 76

7. The emergence of privately grown industrial tree plantations / Harald Witt 90

8. Technology and ecology in the Karoo: A century of windmills, wire and changing farming practice / Sean Archer 112

9. 'Our irrepressible fellow colonist': The biological invasion of Prickly Pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) in the Eastern Cape, c.1890-c.1910 / Lance van Sittert 139

10. Fire and the South African Grassland Biome / John McAllister 160

11. Wakkerstroom: Grasslands, fire and war - past perspectives, present issues / Elna Kotze 174

12. The dynamics of ecological change in an era of political transformations: An environmental history of the Eastern Shores of Lake St Lucia / Georgina Thompson 191

Part III Commentaries and comparisons

13. South African environmental history in the African context / William Beinart 215

14. Commonalities and contrasts, pasts and presents: An Australian view / Stephen Dovers 227

15. Environment and history in South America and South Africa / John McNeill 240

16. 'Degradation narratives' and 'population time bombs': Myths and realities about African environments / Gregory Maddox 250

17. The colonial eco-drama: Resonant themes in the environmental history of southern Africa and South Asia / Ravi Rajan 259.

Notes:

"First published in 2002 in Africa by David Philip Publishers..."--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 268-317) and index.

ISBN:

0821414984

0864864922

OCLC:

51793514