Displacement, memories and struggle

Internationally, places like Mapari in the Save Valley Conservancy (SVC) are celebrated for their wildlife conservation efforts and are a major tourist destination. However, former inhabitants of such places, who lost land to colonialism tell a different story, silenced for long. Around 1920, the Bridges family bought land from the British South Africa Company to establish the Devuli cattle ranch, ruthlessly destroying wildlife and the environment. Africans, among them, the Masikati people were transformed into tenants and subjected to slavery and violence. Around 1967, Devuli evicted all Africans and later its subdivisions combined into the SVC which triggered a boom in profitable safari and trophy hunting tourism. However, its colonial origins continue to trigger conflicts. Today, some of the Masikati people live at the edge of Mapari. Living memories of their settling on the land are tied to places and spiritual landmarks inside the ranch, and until today, underpin claims to enter and use the land. These sites of memory legitimise and activate border struggles, (criminalised) hunting, and other entitlements by various actors; reckoning with them in its official history would be a first step for SVC to gain a sustainable future

Archaeology · Boom · Colonialism · Economics · Economy · Geography · Political science · Tourism · Trophy · Wildlife · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Engineering · Ecology

• Researching With Villagers

  Open Access•Svongwa Nemadire•International Journal of…•2022

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