Details

The Materiality of Lake Kariba

Water, Livelihoods, Belonging and Conservation

von: Joshua Matanzima
117,69 €
Verlag:	Palgrave Macmillan
Format:	PDF
Veröffentl.:	11.06.2024
ISBN/EAN:	9789819995738
Sprache:	englisch
Anzahl Seiten:	220

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Beschreibungen

Titelbeschreibung

<p>This book is an exploration of one of the world’s largest man-made reservoirs, Lake Kariba, created along the Zambezi River in central Africa. Originally built for electricity generation, as the lake reached its full capacity in 1963 it attracted other socioeconomic activities such as tourism, recreation, fisheries, and conservation. The material properties of the waterscape (including waves, strong winds, water volumes, deities and aquatic species) have shaped these socioeconomic activities since its creation. Community interpretations of the reservoir feature stories of fear, death, income generation, livelihoods, illegal cross-border trade, religion and everyday conflicts with wild animals. Drawing on extended ethnographic research and the author’s personal experience growing up around Lake Kariba, this empirically-rich book provides a nuanced discussion of the ways in which the waterscape shapes people’s lives and livelihoods. Additionally, the book explores the challenges of sustaining and preserving Lake Kariba's unique ecosystem amidst environmental pressures and competing demands for resources. Readers will gain a nuanced perspective of the significance of the lake, its relationship with neighboring communities, and its evolution over time.</p>

Inhaltsverzeichnis

<p>Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The Historical and Political Geography of the Kariba Dam.- Chapter 3: The People of the Zambezi Valley: interactions between migrants and locals in and around the Lake Kariba.- Chapter 4: The Religious Divide: Exploring Religious Conflict and Resource Disputes at Lake Kariba.- Chapter 5: Negative human- wildlife Interactions in and around Lake Kariba.- Chapter 6: Hydro-accidents and fatalities in the Lake Kariba.- Chapter 7: Nature- based tourism at Lake Kariba amidst politico- economic crises, climate change and COVID-19.- Chapter 8: Commercial and Small-Scale Fishing at Lake Kariba.- Chapter 9: Smuggling and (I)llegal cross border trade across the Lake Kariba borderlands.- Chapter 10: Conclusion: Towards mitigating the challenges faced by humans at Lake Kariba.</p>

Autorenportrait

<b>Joshua Matanzima</b> (PhD) is a Research Officer at the University of Queensland, Australia. He has co-edited several books including <i>Lived Experiences of Borderland Communities in Zimbabwe</i> and <i>Tonga Livelihoods in Rural Zimbabwe</i>.<br>

Back cover copy

Nearly 70 years after Elizabeth Colson and Ted Scudder began their pioneering research on the social and environmental impacts associated with the construction of the Kariba dam, Joshua Matanzima presents us with a 21<sup>st</sup> century sequel. In rich ethnographic detail, the author tells the stories of the people whose lives are interlinked with this megastructure and its reservoir lake. Of particular interest is the chapter on religious aspects of Lake Kariba, a topic that has received very little academic attention thus far. An important contribution, of interest to any researcher focusing on the past, present and future of large dams. - <b><i>Dr Christopher Schulz, University of St Andrews, UK.</i></b><div><br></div><div>This book is an exploration of one of the world’s largest man-made reservoirs, Lake Kariba, created along the Zambezi River in central Africa. Originally built for electricity generation, as the lake reached its full capacity in 1963 it attracted other socioeconomic activities such as tourism, recreation, fisheries, and conservation. The material properties of the waterscape (including waves, strong winds, water volumes, deities and aquatic species) have shaped these socioeconomic activities since its creation. Community interpretations of the reservoir feature stories of fear, death, income generation, livelihoods, illegal cross-border trade, religion and everyday conflicts with wild animals. Drawing on extended ethnographic research and the author’s personal experience growing up around Lake Kariba, this empirically-rich book provides a nuanced discussion of the ways in which the waterscape shapes people’s lives and livelihoods. Additionally, the book explores the challenges of sustaining and preserving Lake Kariba's unique ecosystem amidst environmental pressures and competing demands for resources. Readers will gain a nuanced perspective of the significance of the lake, its relationship with neighboring communities, and its evolution over time.<div><br></div><div><b>Joshua Matanzima</b> (PhD) is a Research Officer at the University of Queensland, Australia. He has co-edited several books including <i>Lived Experiences of Borderland Communities in Zimbabwe</i> and <i>Tonga Livelihoods in Rural Zimbabwe</i>.<br></div></div>

Sonderbeitrag

Offers an in-depth contemporary analysis of the interactions between the world's largest reservoir and local communities Brings a nuanced discussion of the symbiotic relationships between waterscapes and humans Offers broad interdisciplinary appeal for anyone interested in the intersections between humans and water

Unpublished endorsement

“Lake Kariba began as a heap of concrete blocking the Zambezi River. It became so much more, as Joshua Matanzima tells us: a space of exclusion, livelihood, worship, and death. Water made it so – and in multiple ways. Matanzima’s ethnography explores the complex, often contradictory capacity of this and all waterscapes to make and unmake meaning and power across lines of difference.” <b><i>Professor</i></b> <b><i>David McDermott Hughes, Rutgers University, author of Whiteness in Zimbabwe: Land, Race, and the Problem of Belonging.</i></b><div><br></div><div>This book provides a rich ethnography of the Kariba waterscape by incorporating such themes as religion, wildlife, tourism, fishing and trading. Crucially, it depicts the lake as active in configuring and affecting local lives and livelihoods. It thus contributes significantly to scholarly literature about and beyond Zimbabwe. -<b>Professor Kirk Helliker, Rhodes University, South Africa.</b><div><br></div><div>Nearly 70 years after Elizabeth Colson and Ted Scudder began their pioneering research on the social and environmental impacts associated with the construction of the Kariba dam, Joshua Matanzima presents us with a 21<sup>st</sup> century sequel. In rich ethnographic detail, the author tells the stories of the people whose lives are interlinked with this megastructure and its reservoir lake. Of particular interest is the chapter on religious aspects of Lake Kariba, a topic that has received very little academic attention thus far. An important contribution, of interest to any researcher focusing on the past, present and future of large dams. -<b><i>Christopher Schulz, University of St Andrews, UK.</i></b></div><div><b><i><br></i></b></div><div><p>This well-researched, innovative study is a timely and needed contribution to the history of the Zambezi and the ways in which humans have been interacting with waterscapes more generally. <b><i>Professor Julia Tischler, University of Basel, author of </i></b><b><i>Light and Power for a Multiracial Nation. The Kariba Dam Scheme in the Central African Federation</i></b><b><i>.</i></b></p><p><b><i><br></i></b></p>

Matanzima deployed concepts of materiality, precarity and index of power to unpack the complex ways people self-position and pursue diverse livelihood options in the Lake. In the main, <i>T</i><i>he Materiality of Lake Kariba</i> recasts the angle of analysis from the predictable and common interrogations of dam induced displacements on marginal communities by focalizing precarious livelihoods, human-wildlife conflicts, identity formations and religious activities around the man-made Kariba hydro-spatiality. <b><i>Dr</i></b> <b><i>Terence M. Mashingaidze, Midlands State University</i></b><b><i><br></i></b></div><div><b><i><br></i></b></div><div>The book “Materiality of Lake Kariba” presents a detailed account of people living next to, depending on, and being affected by Kariba Lake, the main man-made reservoir along the ZambeziRiver Basin. The book discusses in depth how, despite the potential the Lake represents for socio-economic development, quality of life of populations in rural areas continues being precarious. A recommended reading for those interested in the complex relationships between humans, their needs and beliefs, and the natural resources on which they depend. <b>-<i>Professor Cecilia Tortajada, University of Glasgow, Scotland. Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.</i></b><b><i><br></i></b></div></div>