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"Ancient and Backward or Long-Lived and Sustainable?" The Role of the Past in Debates Concerning Rural Livelihoods and Resource Conservation in Eastern Africa

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  • Stump, Daryl

Abstract

Summary Attempts by external agencies to intervene in the operation of local resource exploitation strategies frequently include reference to historical arguments. These vary in accuracy and sophistication but are nevertheless rhetorically useful since discussions of economic or environmental sustainability or degradation are substantially strengthened by historical comparisons and precedents. Focussing on examples of indigenous intensive agriculture in eastern Africa, this paper agues that relevant evidence of this sort is often unavailable or far from unambiguous. It is therefore necessary to be critical of the ways in which perceptions of the past are invoked within these discourses, and to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of historical arguments in this regard.

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  • Stump, Daryl, 2010. ""Ancient and Backward or Long-Lived and Sustainable?" The Role of the Past in Debates Concerning Rural Livelihoods and Resource Conservation in Eastern Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 1251-1262, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:38:y:2010:i:9:p:1251-1262
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rocheleau, Dianne E. & Steinberg, Philip E. & Benjamin, Patricia A., 1995. "Environment, development, crisis, and crusade: Ukambani, Kenya, 1890-1990," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1037-1051, June.
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    4. Jules Siedenburg, 2006. "The Machakos Case Study: Solid Outcomes, Unhelpful Hyperbole," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 24(1), pages 75-85, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Geoff Wilson & Giovanni Quaranta & Claire Kelly & Rosanna Salvia, 2016. "Community resilience, land degradation and endogenous lock-in effects: evidence from the Alento region, Campania, Italy," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(3), pages 518-537, March.
    2. Park, Albert Sanghoon, 2017. "Does the Development Discourse Learn from History?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 52-64.
    3. Rosanna Salvia & Claire L. Kelly & Geoff A. Wilson & Giovanni Quaranta, 2019. "A Longitudinal Approach to Examining the Socio-Economic Resilience of the Alento District (Italy) to Land Degradation—1950 to Present," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-23, November.
    4. Geoff A. Wilson, 2015. "Community Resilience and Social Memory," Environmental Values, , vol. 24(2), pages 227-257, April.

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