Overview
- Offers an in-depth contemporary analysis of the interactions between the world's largest reservoir and local communities
- Brings a nuanced discussion of the symbiotic relationships between waterscapes and humans
- Offers broad interdisciplinary appeal for anyone interested in the intersections between humans and water
Buy print copy
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Keywords
- Fisheries
- Tourism and development
- Rural and urban livelihoods
- Climate Change
- Borderlands
- Indigenous groups
- Zimbabwe
- Zambia
- Human-wildlife interactions
- Wildlife
- Conservation
- Nature-based tourism
- Landscapes
About this book
This book is an exploration of one of the world’s largest man-made reservoirs, Lake Kariba, created along the Zambezi River in central Africa. Originally built for electricity generation, as the lake reached its full capacity in 1963 it attracted other socioeconomic activities such as tourism, recreation, fisheries, and conservation. The material properties of the waterscape (including waves, strong winds, water volumes, deities and aquatic species) have shaped these socioeconomic activities since its creation. Community interpretations of the reservoir feature stories of fear, death, income generation, livelihoods, illegal cross-border trade, religion and everyday conflicts with wild animals. Drawing on extended ethnographic research and the author’s personal experience growing up around Lake Kariba, this empirically-rich book provides a nuanced discussion of the ways in which the waterscape shapes people’s lives and livelihoods. Additionally, the book explores the challenges ofsustaining and preserving Lake Kariba's unique ecosystem amidst environmental pressures and competing demands for resources. Readers will gain a nuanced perspective of the significance of the lake, its relationship with neighboring communities, and its evolution over time.
Reviews
“Lake Kariba began as a heap of concrete blocking the Zambezi River. It became so much more, as Joshua Matanzima tells us: a space of exclusion, livelihood, worship, and death. Water made it so – and in multiple ways. Matanzima’s ethnography explores the complex, often contradictory capacity of this and all waterscapes to make and unmake meaning and power across lines of difference.” Professor David McDermott Hughes, Rutgers University, author of Whiteness in Zimbabwe: Land, Race, and the Problem of Belonging.
This book provides a rich ethnography of the Kariba waterscape by incorporating such themes as religion, wildlife, tourism, fishing and trading. Crucially, it depicts the lake as active in configuring and affecting local lives and livelihoods. It thus contributes significantly to scholarly literature about and beyond Zimbabwe. -Professor Kirk Helliker, Rhodes University, South Africa.
Nearly 70 years after Elizabeth Colson and Ted Scudder began their pioneering research on the social and environmental impacts associated with the construction of the Kariba dam, Joshua Matanzima presents us with a 21st century sequel. In rich ethnographic detail, the author tells the stories of the people whose lives are interlinked with this megastructure and its reservoir lake. Of particular interest is the chapter on religious aspects of Lake Kariba, a topic that has received very little academic attention thus far. An important contribution, of interest to any researcher focusing on the past, present and future of large dams. -Christopher Schulz, University of St Andrews, UK.
The book “Materiality of Lake Kariba” presents a detailed account of people living next to, depending on, and being affected by Kariba Lake, the main man-made reservoir along the ZambeziRiver Basin. The book discusses in depth how, despite the potential the Lake represents for socio-economic development, quality of life of populations in rural areas continues being precarious. A recommended reading for those interested in the complex relationships between humans, their needs and beliefs, and the natural resources on which they depend. -Professor Cecilia Tortajada, University of Glasgow, Scotland. Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.
This book provides a rich ethnography of the Kariba waterscape by incorporating such themes as religion, wildlife, tourism, fishing and trading. Crucially, it depicts the lake as active in configuring and affecting local lives and livelihoods. It thus contributes significantly to scholarly literature about and beyond Zimbabwe. -Professor Kirk Helliker, Rhodes University, South Africa.
Nearly 70 years after Elizabeth Colson and Ted Scudder began their pioneering research on the social and environmental impacts associated with the construction of the Kariba dam, Joshua Matanzima presents us with a 21st century sequel. In rich ethnographic detail, the author tells the stories of the people whose lives are interlinked with this megastructure and its reservoir lake. Of particular interest is the chapter on religious aspects of Lake Kariba, a topic that has received very little academic attention thus far. An important contribution, of interest to any researcher focusing on the past, present and future of large dams. -Christopher Schulz, University of St Andrews, UK.
This well-researched, innovative study is a timely and needed contribution to the history of the Zambezi and the ways in which humans have been interacting with waterscapes more generally. Professor Julia Tischler, University of Basel, author of Light and Power for a Multiracial Nation. The Kariba Dam Scheme in the Central African Federation.
The book “Materiality of Lake Kariba” presents a detailed account of people living next to, depending on, and being affected by Kariba Lake, the main man-made reservoir along the ZambeziRiver Basin. The book discusses in depth how, despite the potential the Lake represents for socio-economic development, quality of life of populations in rural areas continues being precarious. A recommended reading for those interested in the complex relationships between humans, their needs and beliefs, and the natural resources on which they depend. -Professor Cecilia Tortajada, University of Glasgow, Scotland. Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Joshua Matanzima (PhD) is a Research Officer at the University of Queensland, Australia. He has co-edited several books including Lived Experiences of Borderland Communities in Zimbabwe and Tonga Livelihoods in Rural Zimbabwe.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Materiality of Lake Kariba
Book Subtitle: Water, Livelihoods, Belonging and Conservation
Authors: Joshua Matanzima
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-99-9572-1Due: 18 July 2024
Softcover ISBN: 978-981-99-9575-2Due: 18 July 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-981-99-9573-8Due: 18 July 2024
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 353
Number of Illustrations: 5 b/w illustrations, 10 illustrations in colour