Societies in Conflict

Humans, the Natural World, and the Shifting Boundaries Between Them

Learning objectives for the unit

By the end of week 6, students should be able substantiate or refute the following claims by using specific empirical evidence drawn from the assigned reading.

• There are multiple ways for human societies to understand “nature.”
• The differentiation between humans and the natural world—and understandings of nature—are culturally constructed and historically specific.
• Western science is one among many ways of approaching/understanding nature, and not a universal truth.
• Contested ideas about nature—including appropriate uses of natural resources and definitions of human-nature connections—were a significant terrain of colonial interactions.

Students should also be able to describe how historians ask questions and gather evidence to construct answers.

Questions for Week 6:

Khoisan Legacies and Colonial Appropriations of Nature

· Why are people, including scholars, artists, political activists, interested in interpreting the rock art of the Western Cape?

· What sources do they turn to for help understanding the process of artistic production, and the meaning of the art?

· What conclusions do Parkington, Manhire, and Yates draw from the art?

· How do their conclusions differ from those of J.D. Lewis-Williams (covered in lecture)?

· How have Khoisan been understood to represent “nature” in various Western perspectives?

· Are some societies more intimately connected to nature than others? What are the political implications of choosing a side in this debate?

· What were the long-term repercussions of struggles over nature? Does it matter that tensions between Khoisan and settlers revolved around understandings of nature?

· In what ways do cultural understandings of nature continue to be important for South African history after Khoisan were effectively eliminated as competition for resources?