Current approaches to managing southern Africa’s cultural and natural heritage are often based on Eurocentric concepts that separate nature and culture, inadequately considering local community perspectives and Indigenous understandings. We explore southern African Indigenous ontologies and place-based knowledge of stewardship of heritage, focusing on human-nature relationships such as ubuntu and totem species. The overarching goal is to identify transformative pathways to integrate these insights into policy, ensuring that heritage management aligns with the embedded values and lived realities of communities and fosters pluralistic futures.
Group members:
- Prof Michelle Cocks, Anthropology Department, Rhodes University (lead)
- Dr Vanessa Masterson (Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University; Anthropology Department, Rhodes University (lead)
- Dr Pascall Taruvinga (Anthropology Department, Rhodes University)
- Prof Bagele Chilisa (University of Botswana)
- Dr Shashi Cullinan Cook (Sustainability Research Unit, NMU)
- Dr Ndukuyakhe Ndlovu (SANParks)