Multispecies Encounters in Conservation Landscapes in Southern Africa
Two-day workshop
Organized by the University of Cologne and the University of Namibia
When: 27th and 28th of February 2023
Where: University of Namibia Main Campus, Windhoek
This workshop focuses on changing conditions of multispecies coexistence in conservation contexts which transform at the same time ecosystems and human lives. Sharing about their research, scholars will discuss the dynamic ways – historical and current – in which local inhabitants in the conservation areas of southern Africa are living with their environments and the plants, mammals, insects, microbes, and other nonhuman species that compose them.
Day 1
9:00 – 9.45 Introduction
9:45-10:30 Bollig: Wildlife corridors in conservation landscapes – the political ecology and symbolism of multi-species engagements along the arteries of anthropogenic conservation
10.30-11.00 Break
11:00-11:45 Lenggenhager, Miescher & Nghitevelekwa: Donkeys in and out of Etosha
11:45-12:30 Lacan: The tsetse fly, a moving target: the multispecies assemblage of tsetse control and wildlife conservation in colonial Zambia (1895-1959)
12:30-14.00 Lunch
14.00-14:45 Heydinger & Brassine: Lions and Livestock as Platforms for Forging
Human Relationships in Kunene
14:45-15:30 Heita, Mosimane, Mbenzi: The hyena and the Aakwanekamba:
a beneficial or harmful interaction?
15:30-16:00 Break
16:00-16:45 Nghitevelekwa, Lendelvo, Likuwa & Matengu: The wild and social lifeworlds of the antelope in Namibia’s conservation landscapes
16:45-17:30 Vehrs: Disentangling Mediated Natures: Hippo Hunting and Conservation in Namibia’s Zambezi Region
Day 2
9:00 – 9.45 Alexiou, Brekl, Köhler & van Engelen: Performing multispecies studies in
Southern Africa: historical legacies, marginalized subjects, reflexive positionalities
9:45-10:30 Ndwandwe, Juba: The introduction of honeybush cultivation projects and
weakening harvester-honeybush relationships in Haarlem Village, South Africa
10.30-11.00 Break
11:00-11:45 Lavelle: The unmaking and co-becoming of Mayeyi multispecies entanglements with the river
11:45-12:30 Swart: Why history matters in conservation
12:30-14.00 Lunch
14.00-15.00 World Café
15.00-16.00 Sharing World Café results & Round of conclusion
17:00-18:00 Book Launch – Venue: Roof of Africa
1) Bollig, Michael (2020): Shaping the
African Savannah: From Capitalist Frontier to Arid Eden in Namibia
2) Bollig, Mosimane, Nghitevelekwa & Lendelvo: Conservation, Markets & the Environment in Southern and Eastern Africa: Commodifying the ‘Wild’
