Through a series of ethnographic studies that range from Papua New Guinea to Siberia, Brazil to Namibia, Ethnographies of Conservation argues that the problem is not the disappearance of “pristine nature” or even the land-use practices of uneducated people. Rather, critical attention would be better turned on discourses of “primitiveness” and “pristine nature,” so prevalent within conservation ideology.
The modernization, the declinist, and the inclinist paradigms of the late twentieth century, despite their differences, all tended to frame environmental change in a unilinear Nature-to-Culture fashion, which in turn entailed homogenizing the agency, process, and outcome of environmental change. This article examines the characteristics of each paradigm, as well as some of the paradoxes that have arisen in their wake. Finally, it looks to alternative approaches.
A survey of African environmental history during in the period 1994 to 2004 is provided and distinctions between the environmental history of Africa and that of other geo-regions are identified.
A severe drought hits the region of the Sahel and West African Sudan, causing widespread famines.
The 1989 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora (CITES) bans the international trade of African elephant ivory.
Increased European demand for rubber leads to the destruction of forests in West and Central Africa.
The introduction of the rinderpest virus into Africa by Europeans decimates cattle and wildlife populations, leading to severe famines.
