African indigenous ecology control and sustainable community livelihood in southern African history

Abstract

Based on sources for African Indigenous Ecology Control and Sustainable Community Livelihood in Southern African history this article argues that political independence in the Southern African region has altered the historiography of the region and the African continent as a whole. Black Africans are now looking to the past for inspiration to constitute the foundations of sustainable livelihoods using their own indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and resources. The indicatives of the African Renaissance also demand that we draw on the significance of the control by pre-colonial African communities of their ecosystems. Existing testimonies show prosperity among pre-colonial African communities in the region. The argument is that, in order to restore the historical achievements of Africans in the region, IKS should form a constitutive part of education.     

Youth and generation in South African history*

In recent years, “the youth” have captured (or perhaps recaptured) public attention in South Africa. This paper reflects on South Africa’s experience of generational conflict and places it in the broader context of South African history. After attempting to define “youth,” this paper makes two key points. First, far from being a recent development, generational tension has been a continuous feature of Southern African history since at least the late nineteenth century. Second, organized political mobilization is not the way this tension usually manifests itself. Mass youth politics is a specific phenomenon, which needs to be explained historically rather than assumed. The paper focuses on three historical examples to illustrate this: early migrant labor in South Africa, the formation of urban youth gangs, and the sustained youth uprising from 1976 until the early 1990s. It concludes with a tentative attempt to draw some parallels between that phase of rebellion and recent student upheavals.     

The Development of African Agriculture

This article was delivered as a lecture at a joint meeting withthe Royal Empire Society on the 29th October, Col. C E. Ponsonbybeing in the chair. The speaker, who should be well known toreaders as a reviewer, is a member of the department of agriculturein the University of Oxford, where he went after many years'service in Uganda.     

The Royal African Society

The following revised rules are published for information. Theyare to be considered at the Annual General Meeting on the 29thApril.     

The Southern African unipolarity

Despite the tectonic changes that have taken place in Southern Africa since the demise of apartheid, South Africa is still widely considered a hegemonic regional power by scholars, practitioners and pundits. This article challenges this interpretation, asserting that both Pretoria’s foreign policy and that of its neighbours fit the concept of regional unipolarity with more precision. Since the early 1990s, South Africa has pursued leadership within binding regional institutions and invested resources in order to reinforce the sovereignty of second-tier states such as Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, which have in turn disputed its diplomatic and military primacy, achieving impressive results. This behaviour is characteristic of unipoles rather than hegemons. In this article I revisit the evolution of South African relations with its more proximate neighbours in a transition from hegemony (1961–1990) to unipolarity. I start by defining both concepts and clarifying the behaviours that regional powers and small states are expected to have under hegemonic and unipolar settings. Then, I examine inter-state relations in the region, showing that the concept of unipolarity best describes power distribution and best predicts foreign policy in Southern Africa since the 1990s. Finally, I show that this exercise in concept rectification illuminates comparisons with other regional unipoles, and provides a useful framework to forecast the consequences of an eventual Southern African bipolarity, if Angola continues to catch up.     

The Social Role of African Music

The well-known South African collector of indigenous music visitedBritain last autumn to collect funds for an international Africanmusic library to be organised by the African Music Society ofJohannesburg. In the course of this mission, which was successful,Mr. Tracey gave a lecture demonstration to members of the InternationalAfrican Institute, Royal Empire Society and Royal African Society.We reproduce the remarks he then made, with an indication ofthe music he played.     

The Story of Central African Archives

This article represents part of a lecture by the distinguishedhistorian at a joint meeting at the Royal Empire Society onthe 30th, June, with Sir Cecil Rodwell in the chair. After recallingfamous names connected with Central Africa, like Rhodes, Bothaand Coghlan, he turned to the organisation of this history inthe making, which is as recent as 9th June, 1947, when an amendmentwas passed to the Act of 1935 creating the Southern RhodesianArchives.     

The East African Groundnuts Scheme

The Managing Director of the United Africa Company was responsiblefor the original idea of this vast new public project. He deliveredthis lecture at the Royal Empire Society on the 26th March underthe chairmanship of the Rt. Hon. John Strachey, M.P., Ministerof Food.     

The French North African Background

This continues our extracts of a longer study by Mr. Atkins,written while a surgeon in the army. There are of course considerabledevelopments on foot, but these notes may provide a useful basisfor a study of contemporary trends.     

The French North African Background

This represents the first of a series of extracts from a longerstudy written by the author when stationed in North Africa asa surgeon in the Army. Although he claims no detailed knowledgeof Islam, Mr. Atkins starts with religion because he considersit isthe major factor in the present situation. In succeedingissues we hope to print further notes on the economic background.private life (mainly women), and public life (mainly men).     

The South African Bantu Education Act

Dr. Shepherd has been Principal of Lovedale, the famous Churchof Scotland African institution, since 1942. He went there aschaplain in 1927 after serving as a missionary in Tembuland.He went to South Africa in 1919 and is a distinguished authorityon Bantu education. He is a doctor of divinity of Edinburghand a doctor of literature of Witwatersrand University.     

The African bureaucrat and personnel management

Personnel Management in Africa by Peter Blunt and Oladeji Popoola Longman, London, 1985. xii plus 212 pp. including tables, figures, bibliography and index. £6,50 paperback.     

The African renaissance and the Caribbean

In May 2010 South African President Jacob Zuma will have been in office for one year. During this time, the Zuma administration has been far less ambitious in its foreign policy than previous administrations. However, South Africa is not in a position where it is able to withdraw from foreign engagement, as regional issues — such as Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Swaziland — continue to demand attention. The Zuma administration's approach in the future, in terms of both substance and style, will need to be informed by lessons from past engagement, including South African peacekeeping efforts in countries such as the DRC and Burundi, and South African mediation efforts in countries such as Angola, Côte d'Ivoire and the Comoros. Certainly, South Africa's record of success in taking on international responsibilities over the past 10 years has been mixed, but there is scope for past experience to shape future engagement positively. Indications of this can be seen, for example, in Zuma's efforts to redress former President Thabo Mbeki's clumsy mediation efforts in Angola by deciding to make his first state visit as South Africa's president to Luanda. Zuma's approach to Zimbabwe could build on the foundation set by Mbeki's long engagement with that country.     

The modern history of Egypt Alla Franca

Egypt, Imperialism and Revolution by Jacques Berque; translated from the French by Jean Stewart; foreword by Albert Hourani. London: Faber and Faber, 1972. Pp. 736, illustrations, maps, indices; £15·00.     

The Importance of the South African Mining Industry

The address that follows was given by the South African HighCommissioner at a joint meeting of the Royal African Societyand the Royal Commonwealth Society on April 2, 1959, Sir PercivaleLiesching, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., former U. K. High Commissionerin South, Africa, took the chair.     

The Common African Defence and Security Policy

The literature on Africa’s collective security arrangementsfocuses on the African Union’s Peace and Security Counciland the Central Organ of the Organization of African Unity (OAU)before it. This article shows that the Peace and Security Councilis only an implementation mechanism of a broader policy framework,the Common African Defence and Security Policy (CADSP), thatwas adopted recently in Sirte, Libya. The article argues thatthe adoption of such a broader collective security policy frameworkwas made possible by changes within the international system.These changes brought about a shift from realism to idealismin various regions of the world. In Africa, the idealistic undercurrentfound expression in renewed interest in African institutionsand African solutions to African problems. The article alsodemonstrates that the CADSP will confront many challenges rangingfrom general theoretical and normative questions that bedevilcollective security arrangements elsewhere to specific issuessuch as funding and other practical implementation matters.