“They Have Stolen Our Land”

This paper takes enclosure and commodification processes of “nature” one step beyond a political economy perspective conceptualising them from ontological notions of nature-culture relations. Taking the case of enclosure for large-scale commercial agriculture schemes and a game reserve in northeast...

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Main Authors: Asebe Regassa Debelo, Georg Klute, Mohammed Detona
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Hradec Králové 2018-01-01
Series:Modern Africa
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uhk.cz/modernafrica/article/view/126
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author Asebe Regassa Debelo
Georg Klute
Mohammed Detona
author_facet Asebe Regassa Debelo
Georg Klute
Mohammed Detona
author_sort Asebe Regassa Debelo
collection DOAJ
description This paper takes enclosure and commodification processes of “nature” one step beyond a political economy perspective conceptualising them from ontological notions of nature-culture relations. Taking the case of enclosure for large-scale commercial agriculture schemes and a game reserve in northeastern Ethiopia, the paper argues that enclosure and nature commodification are part of neoliberal environmental governance that has been built on the notion of subduing nature and subaltern groups into the power of capitalism. More specifically, while the economic and political dimensions of these processes are salient, the ontological notions of the natureculture dualism has been invoked by states in their justification of expropriating pastoralist lands, thus nullifying indigenous people’s claim to ancestral homelands. The data for this paper was collected from 2013 to 2016 through ethnographic fieldwork, mainly conducted by the authors. The findings show oscillating perceptions of humane-environment relations among the Afar pastoralists: from human-environment, conjointly constituted by humans and non-humans, to the utilitarian dualist approach of environmental use which is mainly caused by the infiltration of capitalist economy and state driven development and conservation projects.
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publisher University of Hradec Králové
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spelling doaj-art-3d3159c8696a4fd4a4d7df7be19f67d12025-08-03T20:51:11ZengUniversity of Hradec KrálovéModern Africa2336-32742570-75582018-01-015210.26806/modafr.v5i2.199“They Have Stolen Our Land”Asebe Regassa Debelo0Georg Klute1Mohammed Detona2Dilla University, EthiopiaUniversity of BayreuthUniversity of Samera, Ethiopia This paper takes enclosure and commodification processes of “nature” one step beyond a political economy perspective conceptualising them from ontological notions of nature-culture relations. Taking the case of enclosure for large-scale commercial agriculture schemes and a game reserve in northeastern Ethiopia, the paper argues that enclosure and nature commodification are part of neoliberal environmental governance that has been built on the notion of subduing nature and subaltern groups into the power of capitalism. More specifically, while the economic and political dimensions of these processes are salient, the ontological notions of the natureculture dualism has been invoked by states in their justification of expropriating pastoralist lands, thus nullifying indigenous people’s claim to ancestral homelands. The data for this paper was collected from 2013 to 2016 through ethnographic fieldwork, mainly conducted by the authors. The findings show oscillating perceptions of humane-environment relations among the Afar pastoralists: from human-environment, conjointly constituted by humans and non-humans, to the utilitarian dualist approach of environmental use which is mainly caused by the infiltration of capitalist economy and state driven development and conservation projects. https://journals.uhk.cz/modernafrica/article/view/126EnclosureNature COmmodificationDualismMutualismAfar/Ethiopia
spellingShingle Asebe Regassa Debelo
Georg Klute
Mohammed Detona
“They Have Stolen Our Land”
Modern Africa
Enclosure
Nature COmmodification
Dualism
Mutualism
Afar/Ethiopia
title “They Have Stolen Our Land”
title_full “They Have Stolen Our Land”
title_fullStr “They Have Stolen Our Land”
title_full_unstemmed “They Have Stolen Our Land”
title_short “They Have Stolen Our Land”
title_sort they have stolen our land
topic Enclosure
Nature COmmodification
Dualism
Mutualism
Afar/Ethiopia
url https://journals.uhk.cz/modernafrica/article/view/126
work_keys_str_mv AT aseberegassadebelo theyhavestolenourland
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AT mohammeddetona theyhavestolenourland