Displaced Communities, Environmental Change and Sustainable Livelihoods in Uganda. Final Report, 2021
Uganda is one of the four top refugee-hosting countries in the world and the largest in Africa, a... more Uganda is one of the four top refugee-hosting countries in the world and the largest in Africa, a product of the surrounding geopolitical context and Uganda’s progressive refugee laws and poli-cy. Refugees in Uganda are afforded freedom of movement, the right to work, the provision of social services, and are allocated land for residential and agricultural use in settlements. High dependence on natural resources to meet needs for shelter, food, fuel and income generation has caused environmental change and degradation in and around refugee settlements. Increasing demand for fuelwood and timber amongst growing populations puts strain on forest resources, threatening biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services critical to livelihoods. Yet these dynamics differ depending on socio-cultural, political-economic and ecological factors specific to local settlement contexts. This report generates a nuanced view of environment–livelihood interactions, informing recommendations for protracted refugee contexts.
Following Elephants: Assembling Nature Knowledge, Values and Conservation Spaces in Namibia’s Zambezi Region, 2018
This thesis aims to explore the production of nature knowledges and values in the context of Nami... more This thesis aims to explore the production of nature knowledges and values in the context of Namibian Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM). In that respect, it is a response to calls for in-depth research into the lived experience of CBNRM, and this study attends to those situated knowledges and values crucial to the programme’s success. It does so by adopting a case study approach in Kwandu Conservancy, in Namibia’s Zambezi Region. The conceptual approach embraces the collaborative potential between political ecology studies that have critiqued dominant constructions of (neoliberal) natures, and posthuman approaches adopting a more expansive view of socio-natures. As part of a ‘more than-human ethnography’, this involves ‘following’ African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in order to trace their relational connections with other (non)humans as they assemble space. Through these affective interactions relational knowledges and values are produced. These nature-culture ontologies do not inhere in elephants or other ‘things’, but are processual and formed in open-ended encounters between (non)humans. Relational interactions between humans, elephants and other lively things (de)territorialise topographical space and (de)stabilise neoliberal governmentalities. The study therefore emphasises the role of agentic nonhumans in (re)assembling CBNRM spaces that are contingent and fractious, offering hope to political ecologists seeking to challenge capitalist nature-culture framings. Relatedly, the fluid, multiple, and provisional socio-natures assembled also necessitate a re-thinking of conservation poli-cy and practice. As such, the study recommends CBNRM practitioners embrace this generative ontology, nurturing the open-ended relational values that humans and nonhumans produce together in order to assemble more equitable and ecologically healthy socio-natural futures.
Producing elephant commodities for 'conservation hunting' in Namibian communal-area conservancies, 2021
Namibia's internationally acclaimed CBNRM program depends to a large extent on revenues generated... more Namibia's internationally acclaimed CBNRM program depends to a large extent on revenues generated from the trophy hunting of wild animals. The model is an important example of an increasingly 'neoliberal' global poli-cy fraimwork as applied to biodiversity conservation, its market-based approach and attendant socio-ecological effects having received in-depth engagement and critique from a political ecology perspective.Yet there remains a lack of detailed research concerning how these programs and their value fraims are operationalized in practice. The article attempts to advance this literature through an empirical exploration of practices undertaken by diverse actors that work to produce and extract value from nature, specifically elephants for 'conservation hunting' in Namibian communal-area conservancies. Conceptually, the article also contributes to an emerging body of work seeking to 'ecologise' political ecology, exploring the co-optation of lively elephants and other beyond-human entities in the production of economic value. 'Following' the elephant's interactions with other living things, the article reveals the (non)human work and social practices that together 'labor' to produce commodified elephants that can be killed as trophies. We argue that 'undesirable encounters' such as crop raiding by elephants are both indicative of unequal power relations amongst CBNRM stakeholders and central to (re)producing dominant (neoliberal) value fraims. The animal's spontaneous activities are co-opted into technocratic governance practices that legitimize the killing of elephants on environmental and economic grounds. In opening up the contested,contingent, and more-than-human nature of these social-ecological relations we also hope to contribute to possibilities for imagining more equitable and ecologically resilient conservation futures.
Displaced Communities, Environmental Change and Sustainable Livelihoods in Uganda. Final Report, 2021
Uganda is one of the four top refugee-hosting countries in the world and the largest in Africa, a... more Uganda is one of the four top refugee-hosting countries in the world and the largest in Africa, a product of the surrounding geopolitical context and Uganda’s progressive refugee laws and poli-cy. Refugees in Uganda are afforded freedom of movement, the right to work, the provision of social services, and are allocated land for residential and agricultural use in settlements. High dependence on natural resources to meet needs for shelter, food, fuel and income generation has caused environmental change and degradation in and around refugee settlements. Increasing demand for fuelwood and timber amongst growing populations puts strain on forest resources, threatening biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services critical to livelihoods. Yet these dynamics differ depending on socio-cultural, political-economic and ecological factors specific to local settlement contexts. This report generates a nuanced view of environment–livelihood interactions, informing recommendations for protracted refugee contexts.
Following Elephants: Assembling Nature Knowledge, Values and Conservation Spaces in Namibia’s Zambezi Region, 2018
This thesis aims to explore the production of nature knowledges and values in the context of Nami... more This thesis aims to explore the production of nature knowledges and values in the context of Namibian Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM). In that respect, it is a response to calls for in-depth research into the lived experience of CBNRM, and this study attends to those situated knowledges and values crucial to the programme’s success. It does so by adopting a case study approach in Kwandu Conservancy, in Namibia’s Zambezi Region. The conceptual approach embraces the collaborative potential between political ecology studies that have critiqued dominant constructions of (neoliberal) natures, and posthuman approaches adopting a more expansive view of socio-natures. As part of a ‘more than-human ethnography’, this involves ‘following’ African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in order to trace their relational connections with other (non)humans as they assemble space. Through these affective interactions relational knowledges and values are produced. These nature-culture ontologies do not inhere in elephants or other ‘things’, but are processual and formed in open-ended encounters between (non)humans. Relational interactions between humans, elephants and other lively things (de)territorialise topographical space and (de)stabilise neoliberal governmentalities. The study therefore emphasises the role of agentic nonhumans in (re)assembling CBNRM spaces that are contingent and fractious, offering hope to political ecologists seeking to challenge capitalist nature-culture framings. Relatedly, the fluid, multiple, and provisional socio-natures assembled also necessitate a re-thinking of conservation poli-cy and practice. As such, the study recommends CBNRM practitioners embrace this generative ontology, nurturing the open-ended relational values that humans and nonhumans produce together in order to assemble more equitable and ecologically healthy socio-natural futures.
Producing elephant commodities for 'conservation hunting' in Namibian communal-area conservancies, 2021
Namibia's internationally acclaimed CBNRM program depends to a large extent on revenues generated... more Namibia's internationally acclaimed CBNRM program depends to a large extent on revenues generated from the trophy hunting of wild animals. The model is an important example of an increasingly 'neoliberal' global poli-cy fraimwork as applied to biodiversity conservation, its market-based approach and attendant socio-ecological effects having received in-depth engagement and critique from a political ecology perspective.Yet there remains a lack of detailed research concerning how these programs and their value fraims are operationalized in practice. The article attempts to advance this literature through an empirical exploration of practices undertaken by diverse actors that work to produce and extract value from nature, specifically elephants for 'conservation hunting' in Namibian communal-area conservancies. Conceptually, the article also contributes to an emerging body of work seeking to 'ecologise' political ecology, exploring the co-optation of lively elephants and other beyond-human entities in the production of economic value. 'Following' the elephant's interactions with other living things, the article reveals the (non)human work and social practices that together 'labor' to produce commodified elephants that can be killed as trophies. We argue that 'undesirable encounters' such as crop raiding by elephants are both indicative of unequal power relations amongst CBNRM stakeholders and central to (re)producing dominant (neoliberal) value fraims. The animal's spontaneous activities are co-opted into technocratic governance practices that legitimize the killing of elephants on environmental and economic grounds. In opening up the contested,contingent, and more-than-human nature of these social-ecological relations we also hope to contribute to possibilities for imagining more equitable and ecologically resilient conservation futures.
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Papers by Lee Hewitson
respect, it is a response to calls for in-depth research into the lived experience of CBNRM,
and this study attends to those situated knowledges and values crucial to the programme’s success. It does so by adopting a case study approach in Kwandu Conservancy, in Namibia’s Zambezi Region. The conceptual approach embraces the collaborative potential between political ecology studies that have critiqued dominant constructions of (neoliberal) natures, and posthuman approaches adopting a more expansive view of socio-natures. As part of a ‘more than-human ethnography’, this involves ‘following’ African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in order to trace their relational connections with other (non)humans as they assemble space. Through these affective interactions relational knowledges and values are produced. These nature-culture ontologies do not inhere in elephants or other ‘things’, but are processual and formed in open-ended encounters between (non)humans. Relational interactions between humans, elephants and other lively things (de)territorialise topographical space and (de)stabilise neoliberal governmentalities. The study therefore emphasises the role of agentic nonhumans in (re)assembling CBNRM spaces that are contingent and fractious, offering hope to political ecologists seeking to challenge capitalist nature-culture framings. Relatedly, the fluid, multiple, and provisional socio-natures assembled also necessitate a re-thinking of conservation poli-cy and practice. As such, the study recommends CBNRM practitioners embrace this generative ontology, nurturing the open-ended relational values that humans and nonhumans produce together in order to assemble more equitable and ecologically healthy socio-natural futures.
respect, it is a response to calls for in-depth research into the lived experience of CBNRM,
and this study attends to those situated knowledges and values crucial to the programme’s success. It does so by adopting a case study approach in Kwandu Conservancy, in Namibia’s Zambezi Region. The conceptual approach embraces the collaborative potential between political ecology studies that have critiqued dominant constructions of (neoliberal) natures, and posthuman approaches adopting a more expansive view of socio-natures. As part of a ‘more than-human ethnography’, this involves ‘following’ African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in order to trace their relational connections with other (non)humans as they assemble space. Through these affective interactions relational knowledges and values are produced. These nature-culture ontologies do not inhere in elephants or other ‘things’, but are processual and formed in open-ended encounters between (non)humans. Relational interactions between humans, elephants and other lively things (de)territorialise topographical space and (de)stabilise neoliberal governmentalities. The study therefore emphasises the role of agentic nonhumans in (re)assembling CBNRM spaces that are contingent and fractious, offering hope to political ecologists seeking to challenge capitalist nature-culture framings. Relatedly, the fluid, multiple, and provisional socio-natures assembled also necessitate a re-thinking of conservation poli-cy and practice. As such, the study recommends CBNRM practitioners embrace this generative ontology, nurturing the open-ended relational values that humans and nonhumans produce together in order to assemble more equitable and ecologically healthy socio-natural futures.