An innovative examination of the forces--both destructive and dynamic--which have shaped South Africa, this book provides a stimulating introduction to the history of the nation in the twentieth century. It draws on the rich and lively tradition of radical history writing and weaves economic and cultural history into the political narrative.
An innovative examination of the forces--both destructive and dynamic--which have shaped South Africa, this book provides a stimulating introduction t...
European imperialism was extraordinarily far-reaching: a key global historical process of the last 500 years. It locked disparate human societies together over a wider area than any previous imperial expansion; it underpinned the repopulation of the Americas and Australasia; it was the precursor of globalization as we now understand it. Imperialism was inseparable from the history of global environmental change. Metropolitan countries sought raw materials of all kinds, from timber and furs to rubber and oil. They established sugar plantations that transformed island ecologies. Settlers...
European imperialism was extraordinarily far-reaching: a key global historical process of the last 500 years. It locked disparate human societies toge...
The influence of human economies and cultures on ecosystems is particularly striking in the new worlds into which Europeans expanded over the past 500 years. Using a comparative approach, Beinart and Dubow examine the neglected historical subject of settler incursion and dominance. They also seek to explain change in indigenous ideas and practices towards the environment. This work culminates with a discussion of the rise of popular environmentalism and traces its manifestations down to the present day.
The influence of human economies and cultures on ecosystems is particularly striking in the new worlds into which Europeans expanded over the past 500...
Understanding local knowledge has become a central academic project among those interested in Africa and developing countries. In South Africa, land reform is gathering pace and African people hold an increasing proportion of the livestock in the country. Animal health has become a central issue for rural development. Yet African veterinary medical knowledge remains largely unrecorded. This book seeks to fill that gap. It captures for the first time the diversity, as well as the limits, of a major sphere of local knowledge. Beinart and Brown argue that African approaches to animal health rest...
Understanding local knowledge has become a central academic project among those interested in Africa and developing countries. In South Africa, land r...
While there are many studies of the global influence of crops and plants, this is perhaps the first social history based around a plant in South Africa. Plants are not quite historical actors in their own right, but their properties and potential help to shape human history. Plants such as prickly pear tend to be invisible to those who do not use them, or at least on the peripheries of people's consciousness. This book explains why they were not peripheral to many people in the Eastern Cape and why a wild and sometimes invasive cactus from Mexico, that found its way around the world over...
While there are many studies of the global influence of crops and plants, this is perhaps the first social history based around a plant in South Af...