Description
Book SynopsisThe volume Environmental Change and African Societies contributes to current debates on global climate change from the perspectives of the social sciences and the humanities. It charts past and present environmental change in different African settings and also discusses policies and scenarios for the future. The first section, “Ideas”, enquires into local perceptions of the environment, followed by contributions on historical cases of environmental change and state regulation. The section “Present” addresses decision-making and agenda-setting processes related to current representations and/or predicted effects of climate change. The section “Prospects” is concerned with contemporary African megatrends. The authors move across different scales of investigation, from locally-grounded ethnographic analyses to discussions on continental trends and international policy. Contributors are: Daniel Callo-Concha, Joy Clancy, Manfred Denich, Sara de Wit, Ton Dietz, Irit Eguavoen, Ben Fanstone, Ingo Haltermann, Laura Jeffrey, Emmanuel Kreike, Vimbai Kwashirai, James C. McCann, Bertrand F. Nero, Jonas Ø. Nielsen, Erick G. Tambo, Julia Tischler.
Table of ContentsForeword Acknowledgements List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Notes on Contributors Introduction: Environmental Change and African Societies Julia Tischler and Ingo Haltermann Part 1 Ideas 1 To See or Not to See: On the ‘Absence’ of Climate Change (Discourse) in Maasailand, Northern Tanzania Sara de Wit 2 Perspectives on Climate Change in Makonde District, Zimbabwe since 2000 Vimbai Kwashirai Part 2 Past 3 Environmental and Climate Change in Africa: Global Drought and Local Environmental Infrastructure Emmanuel Kreike 4 Shamba Forestry in Colonial Kenya: Colonial Dominance or African Opportunity? Ben Fanstone Part 3 Present 5 I’m Staying! Climate Variability and Circular Migration in Burkina Faso Jonas Østergaard Nielsen 6 Living with a Changing Climate in sub-Saharan Africa: More of the Same Joy Clancy 7 Sustainable Mauritius? Environmental Change, Energy Efficiency, and Sustainable Development in a Small Island State in the Indian Ocean Laura Jeffery 8 Transformative Learning for Global Change? Reflections on the wascal Master Programme in Climate Change and Education in the Gambia Irit Eguavoen and Erick Tambo Part 4 Prospects 9 Africa in Transition: What Role for the Environment? Ton Dietz 10 Africa’s High Modernism: Historical Ecologies of Climate Change and Hydrologies of Watersheds (Blue Nile and Zambezi) James C. McCann 11 Increasing Urbanisation and the Role of Green Spaces in Urban Climate Resilience in Africa Bertrand F. Nero, Daniel Callo- Concha, and Manfred Denich Bibliography Index
