Stability and Transformation in a South African Landscape
Rural Livelihoods, Governmental Interventions and Agro-Economic Change in Thaba Nchu
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4743960 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christiane Naumann (University of Cologne, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 41-57 |
| Publication date | 2014-01-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070.2014.877653 |
| OpenAlex | W2097629483 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
Despite an ambitious land reform programme, many rural households in South Africa derive only a small proportion of their livelihoods from agriculture, and tend rather to rely on off-farm incomes, whether in the form of wages from the commercial sector or social grants provided by the government. Focusing on communal areas in Thaba Nchu in the eastern Free State, this article addresses both continuities and transformations of the local land use patterns between the early twentieth century and the current state of low agricultural production. Based on ethnographic, archival, and aerial photographic data, the study retraces critical changes in the social–ecological system, taking into particular consideration the effects of governmental interventions on the agro-economic sector. Although rural Thaba Nchu has undergone profound shifts of land use patterns in its history, agricultural production there was most significantly transformed by the ‘betterment schemes’ initiated by the apartheid government. Initially intended to rehabilitate the reserves, the betterment in fact undermined local agriculture and destroyed rural livelihoods
Agricultural productivity · Agriculture · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Land reform · Livelihood · Local government · Political science · Psychological intervention · Rural area · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Land Rights and Reforms · Legal Issues in South Africa
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Reorganizing resource use in a communal livestock production socio-ecological system in South Africa
The translocal villagers. Mining, mobility and stratification in post-apartheid South Africa
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2016 - 2025 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |